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COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



BETTER SPEECH 



A TEXT-BOOK OF SPEECH TRAINING 
FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS 



BY 
CHARLES HENRY WOOLBERT, Ph.D. 

Associate Professor of Speech in the University of Illinois- 
Editor of The Quarterly Journal of Speech 
Education — Author of Fundamentals of Speech 

AND 

ANDREW THOMAS WEAVER, M.A. 

Assistant Professor of Speech in the University of 

Wisconsin — Supervisor of Speech Training 

in the Wisconsin High School 



m 



NEW YORK 
HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY 



Sv 






COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY 
HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY, INC. 



Printed in the U. S. A. 



AUG 19 1922 

©CI.A(>77905 







PREFACE 

The Aim and the Ideal 

The movement for better speech is upon us. Leaders of 
civic activities, the press, school administrators, parents, 
teachers, even pupils, have come to an awakening as to the 
desirability of improving speech. It is with the sincere hope 
of contributing some new definiteness of meaning and di- 
rection to this nation-wide campaign for better speech that 
this book is written. 

Speech as a school study is the broadest of all disciplines. 
It is fundamental and universal. In school, poor speech means 
poor mathematics, poor history, poor physics, poor chemistry, 
and, surely, poor language. Speech is the most liberal of all 
cultural studies, yet it is far and away the most practical disci- 
pline that the school can give. The profound conviction of 
the authors of this text is that the term Speech properly com- 
prehends a wide field, including the simplest efforts to make 
meaningful sounds and actions, the proper choice and utter- 
ance of words, proper vocal expression in speaking and read- 
ing, proper control of the whole body in communicating with 
others, and the ability to think clearly and deeply. The de- 
velopment of these capacities carries with it the ability to 
influence the thoughts and actions of other people. Good 
speech is the key which admits its possessor to the company 
of the leaders of men. When speech is not good, man is 
vastly less happy as a social being than he should be. The 
man who has mastered speech has learned the secret of fitting 
himself into his complex social environment. 

The time to master speech is youth, in the days when habits 
are being formed. Habits of good speech, once fixed upon 



iv PREFACE 

boys and girls, will abide. The place for establishing correct 
habits is, first of all, the home, and after that, the school, 
especially the high school, the college of the people. When 
training in speech is added to the traditional training in 
language, literature, history, mathematics, and science, all 
these other disciplines are the beneficiaries in effectiveness 
and usefulness. 

This book is planned throughout to enable teachers with 
the widest variety of training to present to their classes the 
underlying principles of good speech and to offer them profit- 
able projects for training and practice. It furnishes a means 
of socializing the whole school program, giving point, clear- 
ness, and co-ordination to the work done throughout the 
school. Just as speech itself is the chief agency for socializ- 
ing life, so the work of the speech class is the surest way of 
socializing the work of the school. 

The Plan 

The fundamental tenets of this book are: (1) Speech 
training to be effective should proceed according to principles 
and rules. (2) These principles must be evolved from careful 
observation of human behavior, that is, from the science of 
psychology. (3) Psychology shows us that speech is not 
instinctive, that it is learned just as all other habits are 
learned. (4) Most children learn their speech under unfavor- 
able circumstances — at home, on the street, on the play- 
ground. (5) The only way in which this faulty training can 
be corrected by the school is through a study of what speech 
is aimed to accomplish, a knowledge of what its elements are, 
and through well-directed exercises in turning poor speech 
into better speech. (6) The ultimate object of training for 
better speech should be to give the pupil a knowledge of how 
to improve himself and a will to put this knowledge into prac- 
tice; in other words, to make the pupil an intelligent self- 



PREFACE v 

critic. The text is devised to help the learner at any level of 
speech training. It provides principles and exercises de- 
signed to be helpful along the following lines: 

1. Articulation and pronunciation. 

2. Usage. 

3. Thinking. 

4. Conversation. 

5. Public speaking. 

6. Reading. 

7. Acting. 

8. Contests. 

The Method 

The book tries to tell a straight-away story on the theme, 
"The way to improve speech is to understand it and make a 
conscious effort to improve speech habits." Yet the logical 
order of this " story" does not necessarily indicate the best 
order for carrying on class instructions. Teachers should not 
feel bound to follow the order in which the chapters are writ- 
ten; the best way to use the book is to mark out a course for 
a given class, using such parts as serve the special needs and 
purposes of the particular situation. 

The following is suggested as a workable four-year schedule: 
First Year: Chapter I, Good Speech; Chapter II, The 
Nature of Speech; Chapter VI, Thinking for Speech; Chapter 
III, Mastering the Whole Body for Speech. Second Year: 
Review Chapters I, II, III, and VI, adding Chapter IV, 
The Voice in Speech, and Chapter V, Using Language in 
Speech. Third Year: Review Chapters I, II, III, IV, V, 
VI, adding Chapter VII, Conversation, Chapter VIII, Pub- 
lic Speaking, Chapter IX, Reading. Fourth Year: Re- 
view Chapters VIII and IX, and apply them to the project 
work of debating and play production, using the materials 
of Appendices A and B and of Appendix C. 



vi PREFACE 

Acknowledgments 

The thanks of the authors are due to the following named 
persons, who very kindly read the manuscript in whole or in 
part and offered most helpful criticism and advice : Professor 
James Milton O'Neill of the University of Wisconsin; Mr. 
Harry Hinds Wood of Madison, Wisconsin; Miss Severina 
E. Nelson and Mr. Giles W. Gray of the staff in Speech at the 
University of Illinois, and Miss Ethel Dyer, a senior student at 
the same institution . The list of plays and establishments deal- 
ing in stage accessories was prepared by Mr. Gray. Thanks 
also are due to Professor Sterling Andrus Leonard, Assistant 
Professor of the Teaching of English at the University of 
Wisconsin, for a careful and helpful reading of the proof. 

All of the aforementioned, as well as the authors, were 
formerly teachers in secondary schools. 

Charles Henry Woolbert. 
Andrew Thomas Weaver. 
1922 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface iii 

I. Good Speech 1 

II. The Four Phases of Speech 22 

III. Mastering the Whole Body for Speech 40 

IV. Voice 67 

V. Using Language in Speech 142 

VI. Thinking for Speech 170 

VII. Conversation 219 

VIII. Public Speaking 228 

IX. Reading 290 

Appendix A. The Nature of Acting 338 

Appendix B. Directing a Play for School or Class 355 

Appendix C. Debating 380 

Index of Topics 401 

Index of Selections 405 

Index of Authors 406 



vu 



BETTER SPEECH 

CHAPTER I 

GOOD SPEECH 

Strange how careful people are about dress, how sure that dignity 
and good taste in dress help to make one's success in getting on in the 
world; and, at the same time, how careless these same people are about 
speech, which is the dress of the mind. 

Literary Digest: Nov. 6, 1920. 

Speech is a mirror of the soul; as a man speaks, so is he. 

Publius Syrus. 

What were all the attributes of man, his personal accomplishments, 
and his boasted reason, without the faculty of speech! To excel in 
its use is the highest of human arts. 

Bronson: Mental and Vocal Philosophy. 

OUTLINE 

I. The Fundamental Nature of Speech. 

A. Speech as a Means of Communication. 

B. Forms of Communication. 

II. Learning to Speak. 

A. Speech Develops as a Means of Satisfying Wants. 

B. Speech Begins as Random Activity. 

C. Imitation in Learning. 

D. Making and Interpreting Signs. 

III. Speaker and Spoken to. 

A. Speech is a Two-sided Activity. 

B. The Fundamental Purpose of Speech, 

IV. Importance of Good Speech. 

A. Speech as Man's Greatest Invention. 

B. Failure in Speech and Failure in Life. 

1 



2 BETTER SPEECH- 

V. Tests of Good Speaking. 

A. Controlled by Definite Purpose. 

B. Easily Seen and Heard. 

C. Secures and Holds Attention. 

VI. Sources of I mereslingness. 

A. Evidence of Being Throughly Alive. 

B. Using Strong Enough Tones of Voice. 

C. Consulting Tastes of Those Spoken to. 

1. Tastes determined by habits. 

2. Tastes determined by degree of culture. 

3. Tastes determined by circumstances and conditions. 

D. Sympathy and Tact. 

E. Variety of Voice and Action. 

VII. Summary. 

SPEECH 

Speech is like a good many other things that we meet every- 
day ; we do not really understand its weaknesses or appreciate 
its merits. We treat it much as we treat the family, the 
school, the community — we merely take it for granted 
and assume that it is what it is, and that there is little use 
trying to change it. Human nature is so constituted that 
when we have lived with a thing or person for a long time, 
we get into the habit of making the best of a good or bad 
bargain and letting it go at that. 

Yet education and civilization are both a kind of staircase 
by which we rise from the imperfect, the unsatisfactory, the 
weak, to the perfect, the satisfactory, and the effective. In 
no school subject more than in Speech Training, probably, is 
there so much truth in the old adage, "The good is often 
enemy to the better." And of course the ineffective is 
always, with all studies, the enemy to the good. 

So it will pay us to look into this more or less mysterious 
thing we call Speech, find out how good or poor we are in 
using it, learn how it works, how to take it apart, and then 
how to put it together again. We shall discover some rather 



GOOD SPEECH 3 

amazing things about ourselves. We shall be something like 
the man who was quite astounded to find that he had been 
using prose all his life; or maybe we shall feel like the novelist 
Thackeray, who professed to be quite amazed by the dis- 
covery that in France even the children spoke French! 

The least studious and the most easily frightened and 
the most careless of boys and girls have been using Speech 
all their lives; they have had thousands of lessons in Speech — 
most of them good, but very, very many of them quite bad. 
Now we start afresh. 

I. THE FUNDAMENTAL NATURE OF SPEECH 

A. Speech as a Means of Communication. We live in a 
world of people, of fellow human beings. To be happy and 
successful we have to learn how to get on with one another; 
in countless ways we are dependent upon those around us. 
We live happily and successfully just in proportion as we 
learn how to adjust our corners to theirs, to fit our hands 
in theirs, to go about our work and play with the least pos- 
sible friction and obstruction. This means that we must 
know each other's thoughts, each other's feelings, each 
other 's desires, and that we must continually take these into 
account in our daily lives. 

How do we do this? How can you and I each know what 
the other is thinking or feeling or desiring? There is no way 
of x-raying another person's mental operations. We never 
do find out directly; we always have to get the secret by 
roundabout ways; that is, you cannot actually think my 
thoughts and I cannot actually feel your feelings. Then 
what do we do? Why, we find them out indirectly. For be 
sure that we do " carry" thought and feelings to others, 
else we could not live or grow up or be successful in the strug- 
gle of life. 

How do we do it? We read and interpret the outward signs. 



4 BETTER SPEECH 

When we can look at another person and know what he thinks 
or feels or wishes, we can better get along with him. When 
we hear him use his voice and make vocal sounds for us 
to interpret, then we can get on better still. The answer 
is, then, that we succeed in living with other people by 
making and interpreting signs. This is best summed up 
under the name, Communication. 

The most important signs that we can see and hear in the 
behavior of others are those that we call speech. Everything 
you can see in the actions of another and everything you can 
hear in his voice may become a sign or signal of his meaning 
and thus be included in speech. Speech is communication, — 
it is a key which opens up our minds and hearts one to an- 
other. If a man lived in complete isolation from other living 
beings, he would never need any means of communication 
and would never learn to speak. He might express his ideas 
and feelings in some kind of actions and vocal sounds, but 
these actions and sounds would not be speech. 

B. Forms of Communication. In order to understand 
more fully what speech really is, let us consider certain forms 
of communication and see how they work. What is the 
problem of communicating by telegraph? Merely this: to 
devise a code in terms of sound — dots and dashes — which 
can be sent over the wires. First both individuals doing the 
communicating agree on the code, then make the sounds, 
and finally learn to interpret or translate them into written 
words. In this way they can communicate over the wires. 
When A who is to send the message, and B who is to re- 
ceive it, have agreed that — means " c-a-t," then A by 

giving the right signals, can make B think of a small, furry 
animal which catches mice and which is more or less of a 
nuisance around his house. When the football team have 
learned their signals — a disguised form of speech — the 



GOOD SPEECH 5 

quarter back communicates with the members of his team by 
calling off combinations of numbers to which definite mean- 
ings have been attached. If one person agrees with another 
that every time he bends his little finger he will be thinking 
"cat," they can communicate with each other in that way, 
and they will be using a form of speech. Have you ever seen 
a football team from a deaf and dumb school play a game? 
They make their signals with their fingers and arms. Yet 
they are using a form of speech. How many in the class 
know the boy-scout semaphore signals which make up one 
code for communication? Speech is the best way human 
beings have yet invented for communicating one with another. 
It is essentially a code; it is composed of audible signs 
made with the vocal muscles and of visible signs made 
with the other muscles of the body. 

QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 

1. Define speech. 

2. In what ways other than speech can people communicate 
with each other? 

3. What likenesses and differences are there among the follow- 
ing: a telegraph message, a telephone conversation, a letter, and a 
public address? 

4. How does the sort of speech used by the deaf and dumb differ 
from ordinary speech? 

6. What advantage have the audible signals over the visible 
signals in speech? Vice versa? 

6. How much communication through speech is possible be- 
tween people who speak different languages? 

7. Do animals speak? What is your own observation on this 
point? How many modes of communication among animals can 
you state? 

8. Make up a simple set of original signals of some sort which 
might be used as a means of communication. 

9. Say something to the class using the visible signals of speech 
without the audible signals; use sign language, pantomime. 

10. Communicate meaning to someone, using your voice without 
words. 



6 BETTER SPEECH 

11. Tell us the story of the most interesting movie you ever saw 
and show us how the characters communicated with each other and 
with you. 

II. LEARNING TO SPEAK 

A. Speech Develops as a Means of Satisfying Wants. 
If a baby were perfectly satisfied all the time, if it had every- 
thing it wanted, it would never learn to speak. Sometimes 
when a baby makes a noise like "a goo," its mother says, 
"Yes, I'll get you some 'a goo/" and gives the baby a drink. 
Or when the baby squirms about enough, the mother, reading 
a signal in this, immediately feeds it, or moves it, or gives it a 
rattle to play with. Such a child is deprived of any real 
incentive to develop speech. Why should it learn to speak? 
Nobody will learn the complicated code of speech if he can 
get along as well without it. Most of us have never learned 
the wireless code; why should we learn it? It would be of no 
service to us in our daily lives. 

B. Speech Begins as Random Activity. But most babies 
are not comfortable and satisfied all the time. When they 
are not comfortable, they wriggle and twist and utter sounds. 
These sounds and activities at first happen accidentally; but 
when the mother learns to interpret them as signals of spe- 
cific wants, they tend to be repeated when the same want arises 
again. When the mother learns to respond to the right sort 
of wriggling and vocal sound and then insists upon that only, 
the baby learns a good set of basic speech habits. 

C. Imitation in Learning to Speak. From this point on, 
the child 's problem in learning speech consists almost wholly 
in imitating others; that is, in learning a code that other 
people use, probably one of the codes that have been grow- 
ing and developing all through the countless ages which man 
has spent on the earth. 

D. Making and Interpreting Signs. Learning to speak 
means learning to make and to understand signs that can be 



GOOD SPEECH 7 

seen and signs that can be heard. We all learn to show what 
we think and feel by the way we look, and from the looks 
of others we learn to draw conclusions as to their thoughts 
and feelings. Human beings act in certain ways when they 
are happy, and in other ways when thejr are dejected. " See- 
ing is believing;" so is hearing. " Actions speak louder than 
words" is still very true. But words uttered by the voice are 
also powerful. So when we both see and hear, we just about 
know what is going on in another's mind. 

Learning to speak involves the developing of control over our 
entire behavior, so that through it we may be able to tell 
people what we want to tell them and cause them to do what 
we want them to do. The great problem in learning to speak 
is to control the whole body in such a way as to say one thing 
at one time, and one thing only. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why and how does a normal child learn to speak? 

2. Describe the speech of a child you know who is backward in 
learning to talk. Illustrate. 

3. Why is a child born deaf also mute? 

III. SPEAKER AND SPOKEN TO 

A. Speech Is a Two-sided Activity. Speaking always 
involves at least two persons, one speaking and one spoken 
to. We may not say speaker and listener because one spoken 
to is more than a listener; he is also a watcher, an observer. 
Now if you were to go to the telephone and talk without first 
calling anyone up, people would think you were pretty queer. 
Likewise in speaking, the first thing is to see that the line of 
communication between you and the one to whom you speak 
is open and working. Some people actually speak in conver- 
sation and even from the public platform without calling 
anyone up. You always speak with someone. 



8 BETTER SPEECH 

B. The Fundamental Purpose of Speech. The " speaker " 
who merely meditates out loud, seldom accomplishes any- 
thing except to relieve his own feeling or to clear up his own 
notions. Real speech comes from a definite urge to make 
another person act in some definite way. As Frobisher 
well says: "The chief end of speech is to conform the mind 
of the hearer."* 

QUESTIONS 

1. Is the term "audience" satisfactory as descriptive of persons 
spoken to? 

2. Do we need a new word to describe the "audience" at a 
moving picture show? Some one has suggested "optience"; what 
do you think about it? 

3. How can a speaker know whether his "lines of communica- 
tion" are open and working, or not? What should he do when he 
finds he has lost his "connection"? 

IV. IMPORTANCE OF GOOD SPEECH 

A. Speech as Man's Greatest Invention. It has been 

said that speech is man's greatest invention; it is; it has done 
more than all other inventions put together to advance 
civilization. It is responsible for most other inventions. 
More people fail to live well and happily from inability to 
get along with others, than from any other reason. It is not so 
much a lack of brains that wrecks most lives, but just plain 
inability to "get on" with other folks and to adapt oneself 
to conditions and circumstances as they actually are. The 
greatest and most useful instrument that man has yet devised 
for establishing and maintaining satisfactory and happy 
relations with others is speech. 

In this book we are interested in every variety of speech 

from ordinary conversation to formal public address. We 

are even more interested in speaking well in everyday life 

than in clever performances on the platform. While artistic 

* Acting and Oratory, p. 59. 



GOOD SPEECH 9 

skill is very fine, yet efficiency in everyday speaking is much 
more valuable in the long run. No man can hope to get out 
of life what he should get unless he develops his ability to 
speak correctly and effectively. 

B. Failure in Speech Means Failure in Life. The old 
proverb, "Speech is silvern, silence is golden," does not apply 
to the man who, called on to say something where speech 
means responsibility met and opportunity grasped, is silent 
and tongue-tied because he cannot speak. Not at all; for 
there will be many times in your lives when you must speak 
if you are going to amount to anything in the world. It is an 
admirable thing to be silent because you see that silence is 
more appropriate than speech and more likely to secure for 
you what you want. It is a very different thing to be face 
to face with a real chance to amount to something and then 
have to give it up because you do not know how to tell others 
what you want to tell them. In a very real sense, speech is 
the key which opens the door of true success. You are bound 
to be judged by your speech whether you wish to be or not. 
The question for you to decide is not whether you are going 
to speak or keep silent — you cannot avoid speaking. The 
only question is, how are you going to speak, well or ill? 

QUESTIONS 

1. What are some of the things that the invention and develop- 
ment of speech has done for human society? 

2. Just how does poor speech hamper a man in getting along 
with others? Illustrate. 

V. TESTS OF GOOD SPEAKING 

What kind of speech is really good? When is speaking 
effective and when ineffective? What manner of speech 
makes for success and what for failure? What tests shall we 
apply? 

Let us remember that all speech has for its fundamental 



10 BETTER SPEECH 

object the influencing of someone at the "receiving end" of 
the process, — the one who looks and listens. In general 
terms, therefore, we may answer that speech is effective when 
it causes the hearer and observer to do what the speaker 
wishes him to do. The speaker who can induce those to whom 
he speaks to do what he wants them to do in the shortest time and 
with the least effort for everybody concerned is the best speaker. 
Good speaking will generally meet the following tests : 

1. It is controlled by a definite purpose in the mind of the speaker. 

2. It is at all times plainly visible and clearly audible. 

3. It is interesting enough to secure and hold the attention of the 
observers and listeners. 

A. First Test of Good Speaking. It is controlled by a 
definite purpose in the mind of the speaker. 

No one can speak effectively unless he has settled in his 
own mind just what his object in speaking is. You have no 
business to talk until you have asked yourself the question: 
" Just what do I want the person or persons to whom I speak 
to understand, feel, believe, or do?" If you are tempted to 
utter sounds and make motions for the vague pleasure you 
get out of the exercise, go off by yourself in the woods where 
you will not bother anybody else and perform to your heart 's 
content. You will not really be speaking, though — unless 
you play a double part and speak to yourself! 

Too many conversers and public speakers are like the flies 
that buzz aimlessly about the window screen with a hazy 
purpose of getting into the house; after a lot of waste effort 
they sometimes come upon a broken strand in the wire 
and so accidentally accomplish their purpose. The thing 
that makes so effective one of those giant guns that can hurl 
a ton-and-a-half shell thirty miles is not so much the size of 
the projectile, or the noise it makes, or the smoke that pours 
out of the muzzle, as it is the terrible precision with which 



GOOD SPEECH 11 

it can be aimed. Someone has wisely remarked that the 
reason so many speakers hit nothing is that they aim at it so 
carefully. 

Don't make the mistake of speaking when you really have 
nothing to say. "Something to say" means wanting to tell 
somebody something. What would you think of a man who 
packed his grip, went to the railway station, took the first 
train that came along, and rode until the conductor put him 
off? Yet that is no more foolish than to speak without a 
purpose — with nothing to say. In fact it is not quite so bad, 
for the aimless traveler would not be using up the time of 
other people without paying them for it as does the aimless 
speaker. The source of all the really effective conversation 
and public speaking which you may see and hear from day 
to day all about you is in a purpose to influence someone in a 
specific fashion. You may verify what has just been said 
by studying the speaking of those about you. Notice how 
thoroughly all effective talking is dominated and controlled 
by the desire to communicate something definite to others. 
Decide first of all just where you are going to head for before 
you get all dressed up to go. 

If you are telling someone how to get from one city to 
another by automobile, your purpose is to give the most 
specific and helpful directions possible. Your purpose is to 
get the ones to whom you speak to see the situation, to under- 
stand the relations, etc. You will be effective exactly in 
proportion to the clearness of their understanding when you 
have finished and inversely to the time and the effort in- 
volved in making and understanding the explanation. 

If you were telling someone about the best time you ever 
had, your purpose would be to give him all the enjoyment 
possible. The measure of your success would be the actual 
amount of pleasure he got. 

If you were telling someone why you failed to do what was 



12 BETTER SPEECH 

expected of you, your purpose would probably be to convince 
him that you were right in your course of action. You suc- 
ceed in proportion to the fullness with which he believes what 
you want him to believe. 

If, again, you are telling someone about a magazine for 
which you are soliciting subscriptions, your purpose is to get 
his name on the dotted line; and the measure of your success 
is whether or not you get his signature and his money. 

Notice that in every case your purpose is to be accom- 
plished in the minds of those to whom you speak, not in your own 
mind. You are shooting at the other fellow, not at yourself. 
The first requisite for successful speaking is, therefore, that 
the speaker make up his mind clearly as to just what he wants 
the person whom he addresses to do about the matter which he 
presents. 

B. Second Test of Good Speaking. It is easily seen and 
heard. 

Good speaking should at all times be plainly visible and 
clearly audible. This means that the speaker should be both 
seen and heard without strain to the eyes and ears of those 
he addresses. Some of you as children have learned the little 
jingle which says: 

Children's speech should always be 
Clear to hear and plain to see. 

In these lines the whole truth is pretty well summed up. 

But we need to examine the matter a bit more carefully 
in deciding just what they mean. Sometimes when a child 
has " spoken a piece" in public, he gets the idea that he has 
done the thing just right because his fond relatives in the 
rear of the hall, as well as those on the front seats, have 
u heard every word." While this does not at all mean that he 
has been worth hearing and seeing, still it is true that to be 
seen easily and heard distinctly comes ahead of everything 



GOOD SPEECH 13 

else in speech. Your chance of getting something you want 
from a person through speech is pretty small if he has diffi- 
culty in making out the speech signs that you are making. 

You have all talked over the telephone when only about 
half of what you said reached the person at the other end of 
the wire, and maybe less than half of what he said reached 
you. You know how satisfactory that kind of conversation is ! 
The worst of it is that you cannot see the person with whom 
you are trying to talk. If you could only get the signals 
which he is making with the muscles of his face and hands, 
you could do pretty well at piecing out the fragmentary signs 
that you get from his voice. Yet some speakers in conversa- 
tion and on the platform use such small voices and such indef- 
inite movements that we find it very difficult to get their 
signals; and therefore we never can hope to fathom their 
meanings. 

During the war we heard a good deal about " low visibility." 
Ships at night or in a fog or camouflaged are hard to see — 
their visibility is low — a great advantage when a ship is try- 
ing to pass through dangerous waters unnoticed. But if the 
men on such ships are trying to wig-wag signals of distress 
to a passing vessel, "low visibility" is a great detriment. A 
Maxim silencer may be an addition to the effectiveness of a 
gun by making it hard to locate; but if a man who is lost 
in a forest or on a mountain is dependent upon the firing 
of the gun to communicate with friends miles away, what 
good will a silencer do him? 

The signals which the speaker is dependent upon for com- 
munication should be easily seen and easily heard all the 
time. A movement too slight to be seen and a tone too low to be 
heard are of no use for speech signals. 

C. Third Test of Good Speaking. It secures and holds 
attention. 

Good speaking always gets and holds attention; the very 



14 BETTER SPEECH 

instant the persons spoken to cease to pay attention to the 
speaking, the actual speaking ends, no matter how much 
longer the performing may continue. So long as he can get and 
hold attention, a speaker may accomplish almost anything. 
The moment the attention of those to whom he has been 
speaking wanders away, he becomes sounding brass and a 
tinkling cymbal. Imagine youself in the midst of a telephone 
conversation when all at once the connection is broken. Do 
you go right on talking or do you joggle the receiver hook up 
and down to induce central to re-establish your connections? 
Whenever a good speaker finds the lines down between him- 
self and those to whom he speaks, he always gets them 
up before going on talking. Otherwise he is not a good 
speaker. 

The man who plans to spend thousands of dollars on an 
advertisement realizes that the advertisement must get and 
hold attention. Unless it will, he only wastes his money by 
printing it. If it cannot compel attention sufficient to insure 
the reading of it, it is not good. 

Everything in the world which depends for success upon 
popular favor fails when it cannot hold attention. Many 
people, both conversers and public speakers, seem to feel 
that this law does not apply to them, that they are in some 
way immune from its workings. They seem to feel that all 
they have to do is to make noises and movements with as 
little effort on their part as possible and that those to whom 
they speak cannot help getting the signals. Not so; the 
speaker's greatest problem and his supreme task is to be 
interesting. 

It is of little use to tell those to whom you speak that they 
ought to be interested and that they ought to pay attention; 
if they do not, then they do not, and that is the end of the 
matter. 



GOOD SPEECH 15 

VI. SOURCES OF INTERESTINGNESS. 

How may a speaker secure and hold the attention of those 
whom he addresses? Let us see. He should: 

A. Give evidence of being thoroughly alive. 

B. Use strong enough tones of voice. 

C. Consult the tastes of those to whom he speaks. 

1. Tastes determined by habits. 

2. Tastes determined by culture. 

3. Tastes determined by circumstances and conditions. 

D. Be sympathetic and tactful. 

E. Use variety of Voice and Action. 

A. Give Evidence of Being Thoroughly Alive. We in- 
stinctively notice things that give evidence of life, — move- 
ment, change, development. When anything is uninteresting 
we say that it is "dead." We cannot keep our eyes off mov- 
ing objects. Why? Well, there was a time in the history of 
the human family when it was very much worth while to pay 
attention to every thing that moved. When man lived in 
constant danger from all sorts of enemies, the persons who 
did not see moving objects soon ceased to see anything! The 
people who are living on the earth to-day are descended from 
those particular individuals who happened to develop the 
habit of paying attention to moving objects. 

Now, the speaker who is going to hold attention must look 
alive, and whatever he says should suggest things which are 
alive also. We are all much more interested in what we call 
"a live wire" than in what we call "a dead one." Why? 
Well, study the two types and see. The speaker who agitates 
nothing but the vocal muscles in his neck has a hard task to 
keep people's eyes fixed upon him while he speaks. Why 
should they look at him? They see no signals when they look, 
at least none that mean anything. Once they cease to look 
at him it is very unlikely that they will pay any attention to 
what he is trying to say. 



16 BETTER SPEECH 

B. Use Strong Enough Tones of Voice. Loud sounds 
as well as moving objects have always meant the possibility 
of danger. The baby early learns to react to noises, and to 
use a few of his own making by squalling to get attention 
from his parents. All of us do the same thing when grown 
up; whenever we wish to emphasize something, we are pretty 
likely to say it with considerable force. Such increase in 
sound is simply a way of attracting attention. 

C. Consult the Tastes of Those Spoken to. We pay 
attention to what we like and we refuse attention to what we 
dislike. Then, to gain and hold the attention of those to 
whom you speak, look and sound pleasing to them. Have 
regard for their tastes. These are of three kinds: 

1. Tastes determined by habits. 

Every man 's likes are determined by the kind of life he has 
lived. People who are very active physically, who work with 
their arms, and backs, and legs, will be interested by one kind 
of speaking; those who live quiet, sedentary lives, sitting all 
day at a desk in an office, are moved by quite a different sort. 
Unless a speaker looks and sounds pleasing, either type 
probably will pay little attention to what he says. 

2. Tastes determined by degree of culture. 

Certain people like bright colors — "loud" colors. The 
same people prefer noisy sounds too. Others prefer quiet, 
subdued colors and delicate, refined sounds. Notice neckties 
and music; see what differences you can detect among the 
preferences of different people. The more cultured and re- 
fined the person to whom you speak, the more quiet and 
reserved you had better be. Such a one will not like too 
much activity or too much sound. He has been trained to 
notice finer differences; that is why we call him "refined." 
You can easily use more activity or sound than he will 
like. 

On the other hand, there are many people who are untrained 



GOOD SPEECH 17 

in making finer distinctions. They demand more activity 
and more noise. Hamlet warns the players not "to split the 
ears of the groundlings who, for the most part, are capable 
of nothing but inexplicable dumb-show and noise." The 
players whom Hamlet was advising were to do their speak- 
ing before the king and his court ; so the advice was perfectly 
appropriate in that case, for " dumb-show and noise" would 
certainly not have interested that kind of people. You can- 
not be interesting to one kind of people by acting in a way 
that would be pleasing to only an entirely different type of 
people. A man who looks the same and sounds the same 
when speaking to different types of people, must certainly be 
ineffective at least part of the time. 

3. Tastes determined by circumstances and conditions. 

Not only is it true that different people like different man- 
ners in speakers; but the same people like different manners 
under different circumstances and conditions. Such things 
as time of day, surroundings, number of people present, 
nature of the occasion — all of these are involved in a speech 
or talk. Any one who tries to tell us anything must take all 
these factors into account if he wants us to like — and follow 
— him. When we sit in a comfortable position, we are al- 
ready well on the way towards sleep, and the speaker who 
wants to be attended to must act and sound differently 
from the way in which he would if we were standing on a 
street corner. 

Just after a heavy meal, especially, we are likely to be 
drowsy, and greater activity and louder sounds are needed to 
keep our attention. That speaker succeeds best who catches 
us in whatever circumstances we happen to be at the moment 
and then keeps us wide awake and interested. If he can make 
us forget everything except what he is telling us, he can do 
with us almost anything he will. When he makes us get the 
meaning and become absorbed in it, he is succeeding. No 



18 BETTER SPEECH 

other test is so good in determining the effectiveness of 
speaking. 

More than this; when a speaker can get the attention of 
those who look and listen and can hold it for as long a time 
as he desires, it is absurd for anyone to say uncomplimen- 
tary things about his methods. As a speaker he is effective. 
When " Billy" Sunday can fill his tabernacle with 10,000 
people every night and hold their attention for an hour, 
it is presumptuous of a minister who cannot half fill his 
little church and whose congregation regularly sleep while 
he preaches, to say that Mr. Sunday is an ineffective speaker. 
When Mr. Sunday addresses a cultivated and refined group 
of people, he does not shout and gesticulate wildly; he is 
always very careful to conduct himself in such a way as to 
hold the interest of just that sort of people. And he gets 
results. 

D. Be Sympathetic and Tactful. The speaker who in- 
terests us is usually one who understands our feelings and 
who shows them proper consideration. Speakers often lose us 
simply because they hurt our feelings with rudeness and dis- 
courtesy. To be impolite is to arouse prejudices, and then 
to lose attention. All too many speakers are self-centered, 
not at all concerned about our feelings. They sometimes 
show this attitude in the way they treat us. Then we resent 
it, and refuse to pay attention to what they are saying. One 
of the greatest helps toward becoming effective in conversa- 
tion and in public speaking, is to learn how to deport your- 
self so that others will feel a positive friendliness toward you. 
Whenever others really like you, you have a real chance to 
make them do what you want them to do. 

Do not make the blunder of thinking that, just because 
you happen to be greatly interested in something, everyone 
else will be interested too. Everything you are going to say 
should be carefully weighed and considered with respect to 



GOOD SPEECH 19 

the attitude that those to whom you are speaking are going 
to take toward it. Everything in speech should be tested 
by this objective standard. Much inefficiency in conversation 
and in public speaking comes from the fact that the speaker 
does not, or will not, understand the attitudes and tastes of 
those to whom he speaks. He puts on hob-nailed shoes and 
treads all over everybody's sensitive toes — and then wonders 
why people do not like him. 

Imagine yourself going out fishing. What shall you use 
for bait? Suppose you say: "I like a good porterhouse 
steak about as well as anything. Therefore I '11 bait my hook 
with porterhouse steak." How many fish would you catch? 
Nothing but sharks. The skillful fisherman studies the tastes 
of the particular kind of fish he is trying to catch. He baits 
his hook with whatever is most attractive to the fish, not to 
himself. He doesn't try to catch a mountain trout with a 
frog or a muskellunge with a fly. In any case he doesn 't try 
to catch fish by offering them the sort of thing which appeals 
most to himself. 

E. Use Variety of Voice and Action. The surest way 
to lose attention is to use no variety in voice and action. 
People are put to sleep by monotony in what they see and 
hear. Hypnotists use the device of monotony to put their 
subjects to sleep. In speech, variety is the important word. 
Sounds and sights that change constantly get and hold 
attention. // a speaker wants to be heard throughout his speak- 
ing, he should make his sound signals loud enough and should 
vary the amount of sound he uses. A French writer, La 
Motte, in one of his fables remarks, "One day, ennui was 
born of uniformity." It must have been so; for the surest 
way to give those to whom you speak "that tired feeling," is 
to be uniform in what you say and do. 

Variety the great need. After all, the surest way to keep 
anyone awake and attentive is to use all possible variety 0/ 



20 BETTER SPEECH 

matter and manner in speaking. Variety is more than the 
spice of life; it is also the keynote of success in speaking. The 
ultimate test of success in speaking is to have those who 
have watched and listened say, " We could not think of any- 
thing except what you were saying, from the time you began 
until you finished," or " There wasn't a dull moment." Any 
speaker who can successfully meet this test can win the 
greatest praise ever bestowed upon a speaker — " The people 
heard him gladly." Ponder this text carefully. There is more 
in it than appears on the surface. 

VII. SUMMARY 

Learn then, in beginning your study of speech, that there 
are three questions to be answered in finding out whether 
your speaking is effective: 

1. Is it controlled throughout by a clear purpose? 

2. Is it easy to hear and plain to see? 

3. Is it interesting? 

There are no absolute standards more specific than these. 
In speaking and reading there is neither "good" nor "bad"; 
there is only effective and ineffective. And effectiveness and 
ineffectiveness are always to be measured in terms of what 
the speaking does to the thinking and feeling of the ones who 
watch and listen. 

EXERCISES 

1. State the three tests of effectiveness in speech. Cite a case of 
failure on each point. 

2. How can you make your conversation interesting and enter- 
taining? 

3. Show how your interests differ from the interests of someone 
else in the class and indicate how the difference would be important 
for anyone who talks to you and to him. 

4. Make a list of the different kinds of variety which a speaker 
may use. 



GOOD SPEECH 21 

6. Bring to class the most interesting magazine advertisement 
you can find and tell why you think it interesting. 

6. How do you explain the fact that we all sit and look at a 
victrola while we listen to the selection which it is playing? 

7. Why do we like music at a motion picture show? 

8. Tell the class about the most interesting experience you ever 
had, aiming to make it just as interesting to the group as you can. 



CHAPTER II 
THE FOUR PHASES OF SPEECH 

A man speaking is four things, all of them needed in revealing his 
mind to others. First, he is a will, an intention, a meaning which he 
wishes others to have, a thought. Second, he is a user of language, 
molding thought and feeling into words. Third, he is a thing to be 
heard, carrying his purpose and words to others through voice. Last, 
he is a thing to be seen, shown to the sight, a being of action to be noted 
and read through the eye. 

Woolbert: Fundamentals of Speech. 

OUTLINE 

I. What Good Speech Involves. 

A. Speech a Four-fold Process. 

B. How Speech Can be Improved. 

II. Speech Analyzed into Elements. 

A. Thought. 

1. Observations. 

2. Memories. 

3. Beliefs. 

4. Purposes. 

5. Imaginings. 

6. Reasoning. 

B. Language. 

1. Framing sentences. 

2. Choosing words. 

3. Making speech interesting in continuous discourse. 

C. Voice. 

1. Tones and vowels. 

2. Consonants. 

3. Word sounds. 

4. Sentence meaning. 

5. Continuity of sound and interest. 

22 



THE FOUR PHASES OF SPEECH 23 

D. Visible Action. 

1. Posture. 

2. Movement. 

3. Gesture. 

III. The Necessity for Total Expression in Speech. 

IV. Assignments. 

I. WHAT GOOD SPEECH INVOLVES 

Here at the beginning of the book we take up the matter 
of What Speech Is, how it works, what important things are 
involved in it, and where the most important wires and pipes 
and joints are to be found. 

A. Four Processes Always 

Good Speech is Four-fold. First we discover that Speech 
is a kind of four-cylindered affair: four necessary sources of 
power. They are familiar to all of you : Thought, Language, 
Voice, and Visible Action. When all four are working per- 
fectly, Speech is lovely and powerful; but when something 
goes wrong with any one of them, or with more than one, 
then the machine slows down, or stops altogether. Nobody 
cares to go along the street where other people can hear his 
two gasping cylinders trying to do the work of four; in the 
same way, people who have rough Voices, poor use of Lan- 
guage, defective Thought, or awkward bodily Activity 
very seldom lead in conversation, carry their point in an 
argument, win votes and subscriptions, captivate and charm 
audiences, or delight the amusement-seeking public. They 
become wallflowers, hermits; tongue-tied, seclusive, afraid 
to call their souls their own. They usually bring up at the 
side of the road while the procession of the world's affairs 
goes by. 

If learning to speak better is worth while, then it is very 
much worth while to learn as much as we can as to what 



24 BETTER SPEECH 

Speech is. Let us, then, talk awhile about the "four cylin- 
ders" that give power to speaking or reading. Or, if you like 
it better, we can make the machine one of eight, or twelve 
cylinders. In any case, Speech has parts that make it go or 
else make it stop; the more we learn about what these look 
like and how they work, the better we can correct whatever may 
ail our speech. 

Speech and Holding Interest. Thought, Language, Voice, 
and Visible Activity, some one or all of these decide whether 
people shall listen with interest, or turn away uninformed 
and unmoved, or else fail to pay any attention to you what- 
ever. To compel others to listen so that they understand 
and appreciate you, you must at least use one of these cylin- 
ders in a superlative degree; or, you must use all of them 
moderately well; or else you must be extra good in some of 
them to make up for weaknesses in others. 

To illustrate: you are listening to a man telling how he 
thinks the country ought to be run. He can hold the floor 
and keep people paying attention if he does one of four things 
extra well: (1) if he shows he has thought the thing out, or 
presents a strong determination to present his view and to 
back up his determination with positive convictions and real 
facts, or with unique, startling, or agreeable ideas; (2) if he 
uses words and sentences so well that he compels interest 
through their own inherent beauty and power; (3) if he speaks 
in a voice so rich and strong and melodious that people are 
held by the very music and strength of it; or (4) if he shows 
by his bodily actions, by his way of standing or sitting, by 
his use of his hands and head and face and eyes that he is 
intensely in earnest, by the outward marks of being honest 
and sincere and informed, attracting the eye so grippingly 
that the observers and listeners cannot resist the magetism 
of his " personality. " 

A man who is excellent in any one of these ways can get a 



THE FOUR PHASES OF SPEECH 25 

hearing and wield some influence over his fellows. If he is 
complete master of any two he has talent; if mastery of three, 
genius; if mastery of all four — which never quite happens — 
he can conquer the world. 

But most of us are only halfway worthwhile in either 
Thought, Language, Voice, or Action. So we have to stake 
our chances of success in life on being as good as we can in all 
four. That is the model set in this book; we the common 
people are not much interested in genius, and only a few of us 
are troubled by having great talent. What we care most for 
is to be able to get on in the world comfortably and with 
profit. So here we shall study how to improve communica- 
tion by paying equal attention to all four of these necessary 
sources of power in speech. 

B. How Speech Can be Improved 

The person whose thinking is muddled and wishy-washy, 
lacking bright ideas or positive convictions or keenness of 
observation, can clarify his thinking, get new ideas, develop 
convictions, and learn how fco notice things going on around 
him. That is, as a Thought machine he can be remade. 

If he uses Language lamely, lacking a vocabulary, choosing 
words that do not carry his thought, unable to get hold of 
words when he wants them, incapable of making a good 
strong sentence, using poor grammar, cheap slang, and words 
that others do not understand — such a one can be taught how 
to use words so as to carry his thought and meaning with 
power and with beauty. 

If it is his Voice that stands in the way of his meaning, 
then the Voice can be cured. This is as certain as that he can 
be shown how to use good idiom instead of slang or to sub- 
stitute clear ideas for hazy guesses. A cure for unpleasant, 
ineffective, and dull voices is one of the surest things that 
can be won in a study of better speech. 



26 BETTER SPEECH 

Finally, if this troubled speaker is all arms and hands and 
feet or is muscle-bound or has a back and neck like a ram- 
rod or stands like a sick stork or lops around like an animated 
tow-string, or is too flashy or fidgety or brash or kittenish — 
even such a one can make himself over into almost a new 
man. At any rate it is perfectly certain that he can be 
taught to drop the stiffness or fidgetiness or loppiness, and 
can learn to hold his body and use his arms, feet, hands, and 
face in sensible and effective Visible Action. 

Thought, Language, Voice, Action — this is a general out- 
fine of what is necessary to work on if you are planning to 
make people listen to you and to pay attention to your ideas 
and purposes. 

II. SPEECH ANALYZED 

Now let us see a little more clearly what is involved in each 
of these four sources of power. Let us note what the different 
ways are in which we go wrong and on which we can put 
some study and work in order to be set right. 

A. Thought 

How many have ever stopped to think what Thought is? 
Did you ever use your thinker to try to catch itself thinking? 
It is rather an interesting game. You need to know what you 
are looking for; particularly if you wish to drive your think- 
ing into a corner so you can take hold of it and mend it for 
better speech. 

"Speech is Carrying Thought." First let us correct a 
common false notion. " Speech is a matter of carrying 
Thought," it has been said. Very truly; but there is nothing 
really carried, except the sound of your voice and the looks 
of your acting body; not a thing else. If you make sounds 
and I listen and get sense out of the sounds, you have spoken 
to me. The same is true for making me think by means of 



THE FOUR PHASES OF SPEECH 27 

what I see your body do; if you make one kind of face at me 
or shake your finger or nod or move toward me or stiffen up, 
and I see you do it, you can make me do some thinking. 

But I may not think the idea you wanted me to. It is 
altogether a different matter whether the thought I get is 
your thought, the one you wanted me to have, or some other. 
Do not cherish the false notion that thought is really " car- 
ried " ; it is only suggested; stirred up. Failure to know this is 
why so many speakers and talkers and reciters go wrong and 
do not get a satisfactory hearing; they hold pleasant little 
conversations with themselves, but they do not communicate 
to others. 

So Speech is a matter of using the voice and the body so 
that others get the meaning you wish them to have. 

The elements of Thought are: 

1 . What we observe; the things we see, he$r, feel, taste, smell, etc. 

2. What, we remember; memories, recollections, and images of 
what we have seen, heard, etc. Also what we have read about, or 
been told. 

3. What we believe; our convictions, pet notions, "what we know 
to be true," our prejudices, even our mistakes. 

4. What we purpose; our wishes, wants, desires. 

5. What we imagine; flights of imagination, fancies, day-dreams. 

6. What we reason out; solving new problems by old observations, 
memories, wants and beliefs. 

Let us understand these. 

(1) Observations. The things you see, hear, feel, are the 
basis for all your thinking. They are the beginning of knowl- 
edge. It is easy to recognize that the man who can observe 
more than other people, can think better. The man who makes 
himself better able to see what there is in this world, is the 
man who can use the kind of thinking that will influence other 
people. Learn to distinguish the woods from the trees, and 
the trees from the woods; the different kinds of animal life, 



28 BETTER SPEECH 

different kinds of flowers, different parts of an automobile 
or watch or gun or sewing machine; what there is to see in the 
life of city and country and town, the ways of men, the laws 
of society, the rules of good conduct and living; to take notice 
of all the countless things there are to be seen in the world 
around us. 

The more you cultivate keen observation, the better you 
can think, and also the better you can make others think your 
way. 

(2) Memoky. But Observation is not worth much by 
itself; it needs all our past experiences to make it usable as 
thinking. Here Memory steps in, enabling us to use all our 
past life, so that we can think for the present and for the fu- 
ture. 

Can you shut your eyes and see the house where you live? 
Can you recall the road you went down last week or the lake 
you once swam in or a tree you once climbed? Can you hear 
again a song or an orchestra number or the voice of a singer 
or speaker? Can you recall how it feels to ride in a railroad 
train or to slide down-hill or to dance? All this is Memory, 
stored up in what we call Images. Without Images there is no 
thinking. 

The man who has the richest memory store of objects he 
has seen, sounds he has heard, movements he has been 
through, smells, tastes, recollections of the touch of things, 
is the man who has the broadest foundation for rich think- 
ing. When he wants to get other people to think as he 
wishes, he has abundant stores to work with; he can know 
the things that interest and stir up other people. He can 
call up their images, repaint their pictures, make them relive 
their past lives, pry into their innermost secrets of observa- 
tion and knowledge. 

(3) Belief. When life is full of Observation and Memory, 
then you make up your mind as to what is true and right 



THE FOUR PHASES OF SPEECH 29 

and worth standing for. This is Belief. Accordingly, Think- 
ing should be more or less richly furnished with a collection of 
convictions, principles, pet notions, even crotchets and falla- 
cies. They are what you work with every day, your guide 
posts for getting around in the world. 

If your convictions and beliefs are not good, you stub your 
social toes, making constant errors and " breaks" — constant, 
you will notice — getting into trouble with everybody, prob- 
ably landing in the hospital, jail, or insane asylum. You 
have to have usable convictions so that you can live safely 
from one day to the next. The majority of your convictions, 
to be worth having, must be very much like those of the 
people you live with; your family, the people of your school, 
church, community, state, or nation ; for common beliefs are 
one of the cementing agencies of civilization. 

To be a good speaker you must first know what you believe 
for yourself, and what others believe. Right here many a 
young person who would like to make others do his will, 
finds that he breaks down; he is not sure what he believes 
himself, and has only the haziest notions of what is believed 
by other people. He is an insufferable bore in conversation 
and a failure on the public platform. 

To make good in speaking, find out clearly what you be- 
lieve, see that you have sufficient grounds for your notions, 
state them clearly to yourself, and then be at no end of pains 
to find out what other people believe. A very high percentage 
of the hopeless bores on the public platform are men with a 
high estimate of their own opinions who never take the 
trouble to learn that these convictions are not necessarily 
what others think or ought to be asked to think. 

(4) Purpose. With a mind full of Images from the past, 
Observations of the present, and Beliefs as to what is and 
ought to be, the man who thinks has to know what he wishes 
to use them for and what he proposes to do with them. In 



30 BETTER SPEECH 

other words, our minds are full of wants and wishes. They 
form a very vital part of our thinking; without definite crav- 
ings and desires, no man ever could think on a straight line 
or to any definite outcome. The wishless person is always a 
flabby thinker. If he does not know what he wants, he does 
not know much of anything. What are you driving atf 
Where are you going in your thinking? What do you want 
of this world and its people? Most vital questions, these, in 
trying to find out if you can think straight. 

All too many boys and girls cannot get along well in con- 
versation, let alone in speaking from the platform, because 
they do not know what they are trying to get at; they have 
neither compass, chart, road map, time-table, nor an interest 
in signposts. They are more or less dressed up to go some- 
where, but do not know where it is. They start talking, 
not knowing what they want other people to get from it 
all. It is a painfully common fault in 3 r oung thinkers and 
speakers. 

Know what you are aiming at; get a real target with a 
bull's-eye in it, and then shoot to make the bell ring. In 
other words, when you speak, have a definite Purpose. 

(5) Imagination. When a thinker has been a good ob- 
server, has remembered what he has observed, has convictions 
he will stand for, and knows what he wants, then he is likely 
to become bold and to try new ways of thinking. That is, 
he uses his Imagination. There is no thinking that is vigor- 
ous, courageous, inventive, or foresighted which is not a form 
of Imagination. In truth it is Imagination that makes the 
world of affairs go round. Without it life would be dull, flat, 
and profitless. The trouble with the feeble-minded man is that 
he has no imagination, or a very poor one; while the trouble 
with the insane man is that he has too much. To be sane and 
of strong mind means that you must have a lively, but not 
wild, Imagination. 



THE FOUR PHASES OF SPEECH 31 

All new thinking comes from Imagination. Every inven- 
tion, every new theory or rule or principle, every new dis- 
covery or poem or story or oration or play, comes from Imag- 
ination. Even the new things learned in Physics, Chemis- 
try, and Mathematics are the fruits of someone's Imagin- 
ings. Imagination is one of the things that makes man better 
than the animals. Its essence is found in seeing things in 
new relations, putting two things into the same room or 
test-tube that have never before been there, joining new 
compounds that nobody ever thought of putting together 
before. 

(6) Reasoning. One form of Imagination is what we call 
Reasoning. You reason when you find yourself in a difficulty 
out of which you cannot get by your old habits. Being 
against a wall, you "figure out" how to get over or around or 
under or through. By means of Observation, Memory, 
Convictions, Purpose, and a proper use of Imagination, you 
can find a way past the wall. This is what Reasoning always 
is. It is of no use unless you have Imagination. 

Reasoning is a process of solving problems. When Memory 
and Opinion will not get us what we want, we try Reasoning. 
We apply certain " laws of thought." We try to reduce 
thinking to an orderly basis by following these laws. In this 
way Reasoning helps us out of difficulties. 

B. Language 

The right use of words to carry thought is man's highest 
achievement; it is what gives him infinitely greater capacity 
than the lower animals. Words are tools, like knives, axes, 
motors, and dynamos; and it is by the use of tools that man 
possesses his superiority. Men who command others and get 
what they want out of the world, are pretty likely to be deft 
with the use of the tools of Language. 

In the use of Language there are three main problems: 



32 BETTER SPEECH 

1. Framing Sentences: putting thoughts into words. 

2. Choosing the Right Words: grammar, syntax, good use, 
rhetoric. 

3. Making Talk Continuous: composition. 

If you cannot get your thought into a sentence, the thought 
is locked up. If you put it into words that your listeners do 
not understand, again it is locked in. If you cannot hold 
interest long enough to make your thought and purpose 
clear, then again the thought is behind a blank wall. Think 
sentences, use the right words, make your talk interesting 
by choosing the right language for it — these three — and 
you employ the full power of Language. 

C. Voice 

Without learning how the Voice gets results there is no 
worth-while study of how to improve speech. 

Do not make the mistake of thinking that the voice is some 
miracle matter that defies explanation and knowledge. Also 
do not make the equally absurd mistake of believing that 
your voice cannot be improved; that nature gave it to you, 
and there is no use tampering with nature! No, your voice 
is an instrument, just as much as is a piano or violin. You 
learned to play on it when you were young, and being young 
probably did not learn to play very well. But now that you 
are growing older, you can very easily discover that that 
same voice can go far to make or mar your fortunes, and that 
it will pay to learn how to use it as effectively as possible. 

The voice has several most interesting aspects: 

1. The making of the tones, or vowel sounds. 

2. The making of the consonant sounds. 

3. The shaping of these into word sounds. 

4. Putting words together into sentences. 

5. Keeping up continuous — not continual — talk. 

1. Vowel Sounds. Tones are the sounds that come out 



THE FORM PHASES OF SPEECH 33 

of the voice-box. The sounds a baby makes when it opens 
its mouth and howls or coos or sings are chiefly vowel sounds 
like goo and dah and yow. It is mostly vowel sound; it comes 
through the voice-box in the neck, the larynx. It is the 
"voidest" thing we do, making vowel sounds. Whether 
you have a voice like a blacksmith's file, or like the song 
of a bird, is the result of the way you use your vowels. 
If your voice makes people wish to stop their ears or else ask 
you to talk louder, that again is a matter of how you use 
your voice-box. If you speak all on a level like a fly buzzing 
or else jump around up and down the scale like a squeaky 
piece of chalk on a blackboard, then once more it is a matter 
of the way you use the instrument for making tones. This 
is all tremendously important in getting other people to 
listen intelligently and agreeably to what you have to say. 

2. Making the Consonants. A consonant is a sort of 
click or catch or puff or buzz or hiss; it can be made without 
using the tone-making instrument, the throat. Consonants 
are made by activity of the lips, tongue, and palate with- 
out needing the sounds from the voice-box. You can get 
the effect by whispering such sounds as p (puh), k (kuh), 
t (tuh). 

3. Shaping Vowel and Consonant Sounds into Words; 
Articulation and Pronunciation. Making words in just 
the right way is not so easy as it might seem. You do not 
need a critic's ear to notice that many of your companions 
use different sounds from those you use; they pronounce and 
enunciate very differently. One says car and another says 
cah, one says which and another says wich; one what, one 
wot; one ad'dress, another address'; some git, others get. 

Good word-shaping — articulation — is one of the greatest 
and most inescapable needs of effective speech. If you can- 
not enunciate distinctly and cannot get the right vowel 
sounds into your words, you violate the code; other people 



34 BETTER SPEECH 

will misinterpret your signals. It goes even deeper than that; 
you may use the code according to the rules enough to be 
understood, but can still be so unpleasant about it and so 
hard to follow that nobody cares to hear. So there are two 
problems in uttering words correctly: Enunciation, (careful 
use of Tones and Consonants) and Pronunciation (use of 
the right sounds as indicated in the dictionary.) 

Poor Articulation and Laziness. The thing that ails most 
people who do not talk distinctly and correctly, is that they 
are either lazy around the mouth and throat — and even all 
over — or else they themselves do not know how well or how 
poorly they are making their words. If your ear does not tell 
you the truth about the sounds you make, you may, as 
many have done, very easily go all through life wondering why 
people never take you and your ideas seriously. Whereas 
if your ear is keen and tells the truth so that you can hear 
yourself as others hear you, you can easily correct your poor 
Speech and use it to help you get on in the world. Much 
space in this book will be given up to showing how to arouse 
the muscles that make sounds, and how to train the ear to 
know what your words ought to sound like to others. 

Mumblers and jumblers are an unmitigated nuisance; 
those who stutter or stammer or lisp are unfortunate; those 
who are too lazy to be distinct are a pest; while those who do 
not know the right way of pronouncing are to be pitied. The 
mumblers say, " Whajadoon?" "Donchoo?" "Getcha," 
"Gimmy," and either we have to listen twice before we get 
it or else we have to translate their lingo into something 
understandable. 

The stutterers and stammerers and lispers and drawlers 
make us forget the sentence idea and keep us from the 
thought. The indistinct keep us under such strain for words 
that we do not get the meaning of the sentence. And those 
who do not know dictionary pronunciations keep us guessing 



THE FOUR PHASES OF SPEECH 35 

as to what words they think they are using. Any or all of 
these hold us back from the thought. With them good 
speech is quite impossible. 

4. Combining Words into Sentences. The real element 
of sense in what you have to say is found in your use of sen- 
tences. Words by themselves mean little, except when 
understood as sentences. Suppose you say, "Horse" by 
itself; the people who hear it will either pay no attention, or 
else they will make a sentence out of what they hear. In such 
a case they will turn quickly, thinking you mean, "Look 
out for the horse," or they will turn idly to see what it looks 
like, thinking you mean, "See the horse," or else they will 
pay no attention whatever. If they do something about it, 
that will be because they get a sentence idea out of your one- 
word exclamation. What we really mean by "Thought" 
in the study of Speech, is the meaning of sentences. When 
you can put words together into sentences and make them 
mean something to others, you are getting on. Then you 
can talk sense. That is what Language in Speech is for. 

A good deal of this book will be given up to finding out 
how to get the meaning out of sentences. 

5. Keeping up Continuous Talk. Ordinary conversa- 
tion goes by fits and starts — only a few sentences at a time, 
even for the most talkative. A person can be fairly expert 
at speaking one sentence at a time, and yet be hopelessly 
uninteresting when he talks straight on. 

This is why the true orator is a great man; he can keep 
going interestingly for an hour or more, sometimes for two 
or three. The man who can even make a lively and interest- 
ing five-minute talk has achieved something very worth while. 
The person who can be interesting all the time that he is talk- 
ing, whether it is for three minutes, five minutes, ten minutes, 
or a half hour, is the man who can make the world stop, look, 
and listen. 



36 BETTER SPEECH 

One interesting point about this is that some men who 
cannot hold their own in conversation, do very well when not 
interrupted. But on the other hand just because a man 
can give and take in conversation cleverly is no guarantee 
at all that you can afford to let him have the floor and 
monopolize the talk. Some of our best public speakers are 
so bashful in conversation that they do not do at all well at it; 
while many of our brightest conversationalists get nowhere 
as public speakers. The two talents require different train- 
ing: different use of the Voice, different use of tones and con- 
sonant sounds, different ways of saying sentences. 

D. Visible Action: What Can be Seen 

Important as are the use of words and the proper employ- 
ment of the Voice, they cannot by themselves insure a hear- 
ing or arouse interest. People believe more what they see 
with their eyes than what they hear with their ears. Actions 
have always spoken louder than words, and always must. 
Words when written or spoken have easily two meanings or 
else none at all; even the Voice can falsify and prove inaccu- 
rate in showing how people feel and what they wish to say. 
But the body almost always speaks the truth. 

If a man should utter gentle words in a honeyed tone of 
voice but with a scowl, how would it be taken? If the scowl 
be visible, the rest does not count much. Brave words spoken 
with a cowering body convince no one of bravery; the high 
school orator telling his audience what this country must do 
to be saved, but plainly frightened and showing that he 
wishes the floor would open up and swallow him, never makes 
anybody ache to go out in the world and straighten things up. 
When the bodily activity is visible, we ordinarily believe that 
first; other factors are very likely to be discounted if the body 
tells a straight and clear tale of what the speaker really feels. 

Witness the moving pictures. Two decades ago men 



THE FOUR PHASES OF SPEECH 37 

would not have believed that so much could be told to audi- 
ences without words or without the sound of the voice. The 
picture show has revolutionized all this. Now we have to 
rewrite our books on how to carry ideas to others; the old 
ideas are entirely out of date. The body as an instrument 
of speech has come into its own. If we omit its power from 
a study of how to be convincing in speech and how to make 
other people take our ideas, we are back in the mistaken 
notions of the last century. It is truer than ever that if you 
really wish to know what a person means, you must look him 
in the eye, watch the movements of his face, notice the set of 
his head, and take full account of his arms, hands, trunk, legs, 
and his general attitude. Only the very cleverest actors can 
deceive people as to what they really think and feel. 

There is a whole new study of bodily action springing up. 
It is known by a formidable name, kinesiology; but it is 
tremendously interesting, really simple, and immensely worth 
while. It teaches how to manage the body. If you think 
that this is not valuable, just watch your awkward neighbors 
and imagine how much happier and more prosperous they 
would be if they could handle themselves with some degree of 
control. For growing boys and girls there is no subject more 
worthy of attention than the control of the whole body. 

The aspects of bodily control taken up here in the study of 
better speech are: 

1. How to stand or sit; Posture 

2. How to move about; Movement 

3. How to control the limbs and face; Gesture. 

First hold in mind that there is no use studying just for 
their own sake such things as Posture and Gesture, nor 
facial expression, nor how to walk about. These things 
can be worth studying only as they help stir up meaning and 
so convince the people before you that you know what you 
are talking about and mean what you say. They are just as 



38 BETTER SPEECH 

much a matter of "talk" as your words and voice; they play 
their part, and a vital part, in carrying thought and in making 
other people understand your ideas and feelings. 

III. THE NECESSITY FOR GIVING ALL ONE HAS 

The place of Posture, Movement, and Gesture in good 
speaking is stated most simply is the rule, Use all you have. 
Talk all over the body. To have Ideas is excellent, even 
necessary; to choose Words wisely and well is great gain; to 
have a pleasant Voice and use it well, insures a hearing; but 
using the body properly adds the touch of completeness with- 
out which there is an essential something lost. No speaking 
is ever the best speaking that does not present the whole man y 
giving his whole self, frank, full, complete. 

Anything less than this invites failure. The one sole prob- 
lem is to get your thoughts to others; if you cannot think straight, 
you will fail; if you cannot use words in the right way, again 
you fail; and if your voice does not tell its story straight, 
again failure comes; while if the body denies and belies what 
voice and words say, then once more you assure yourself of 
failure. Speech as Thought, Language, Voice, and Action 
is a unified thing; all four must work together to get success; 
and to get even moderate success you have to use all four 
and use each of them with skill and mastery. 

IV. ASSIGNMENTS 

1. If a man has a weak voice, what can he do to get attention? 

2. Can a public speaker ever interest audiences if his thought is 
"thin"? Explain your answer. 

3. What groups of people would be most likely to be interested 
in a speaker who excelled in: 

(a) Voice only? (e) Language and Thought? 

(b) Action only? (f) Voice and Action? 

(c) Language only? (g) Language and Voice? 

(d) Thought only? (h) Thought and Action? 



THE FOUR PHASES OF SPEECH 39 

Answer from among these groups: 

a political meeting a supreme court 

a legislative body a mob 

a high school class room a chamber of commerce 

a high school assembly a Chautauqua crowd 

a jury a church gathering 

a faculty meeting a vaudeville audience 

4. Observe speakers you hear and rate them on Thought, Lan- 
guage, Voice, and Action; grade on the basis of 25 for " perfection" 
in each phase, making 100 a maximum for the best speaker. 

5. Observe speakers you encounter and note whether they reveal 
the best types of good Thinking: in Observation, Memory, Beliefs, 
Purposes, Imagination, and Reasoning. 

6. Watch yourself to ascertain which you can do best; Frame 
Sentences, Choose Words, or Keep Talk Continuous. 

7. Listen to your Voice and learn the difference between Tones 
and Consonant Sounds. 

8. What do you learn from public speakers as to the use and 
misuse of Posture, Movement, and Gesture? 



CHAPTER III 
MASTERING THE WHOLE BODY FOR SPEECH 

We understood 
Her by her sight ; her pure and eloquent blood 
Spoke in her cheeks, and so distinctly wrought 
That one might almost say her body thought. 

John Donne. 

The silent countenance often speaks. 

Ovid. 

We became, by force of unconscious observation, deeply learned 
in the language and the psychology of kine as well as colts. We watched 
the big bull-necked stags as they challenged one another, pawing the 
dust or kneeling to tear the sod with their horns. We possessed perfect 
understanding of their battle signs. Their boastful, defiant cries were 
as intelligible to us as those of men. Every note, every motion had a 
perfectly definite meaning .... Sometimes a lone steer ranging 
the sod came suddenly upon a trace of blood. . . . Then with wide 
mouth and out-thrust curling tongue, uttered voice. Wild as the 
tiger's food-sick whine, his warning roar burst forth, ending in a strange 
upward explosive whine. Instantly every head in the herd was lifted, 
even the old cows heavy with milk stood as if suddenly renewing their 
youth, alert and watchful. Again it came, that prehistoric bawling 
cry, and with one mind the herd began to canter, rushing with menacing 
swiftness, like warriors answering their chieftain's call for aid. 

Hamlin Garland. 

OUTLINE 

I. Speaking with the Whole Body. 

II. Reasons for Acquiring Mastery of the Whole Body. 

A. Without a Controlled Body a Capable Voice is Im- 

possible. 

B. Thinking for Speech Depends upon Control of Muscles. 

C. Visible Signals of Speech are Made with the Whole Body. 

40 



MASTERING THE WHOLE BODY FOR SPEECH 41 

III. Visible Bodily Activity in Speech. 

A. Fundamental Importance. 

B. General Principles. 

1. Activity. 

2. Continuity. 

3. Strength. 

IV. Posture and Bearing. 

A. Definition. 

B. General Principles. 

C. Being "Natural." 

D. Slouchiness. 

E. Specific Rules. 

V. Movement. 

A. Definition. 

B. Function. 

C. Kinds. 

1. Forward and backward. 

2. To right and left. 

3. Turning. 

D. Proper Amount. 
1. Fidgeting. 

VI. Gesture. 

A. Definition. 

B. General Principles. 

1. Every gesture should be of the whole body. 

2. Gestures should be graceful. 

3. Gestures should precede utterance. 

4. Gestures should suggest reserve power. 

C. The Arms. 

1. Planes of Movement. 

D. The Hands. 

1. Supine. 

2. Prone. 

3. Clenched. 

4. Index 

5. Averse. 

6. In repose. 

E. The Head and Face. 



42 BETTER SPEECH 

F. Types of Gesture. 

1. Emphatic. 

2. Descriptive. 

3. Suggestive. 

VII. Bodily Control as Habit. 

A. Conscious Atten ion Necessary at First. 

B. Self-Criticism. 

C. Habit as the Goal of Training. 

I. SPEAKING WITH THE WHOLE BODY 

What we actually speak with is the whole body; not merely 
the throat, vocal cords, and mouth, but the whole body. As 
you have learned in an early chapter,* speech is a means of 
communication through a code made up of signs or signals 
which can be seen, heard, and interpreted. Practically every 
part of the body is useful in speech, and to use less than all 
of it is to fall short of the highest effectiveness in communi- 
cation. 

Every boy or girl in high school has long since learned a 
very high degree of control of his body. If it were not so, he 
could not have entered high school. The problem which 
teacher and pupils undertake together in the Speech class is, 
broadly speaking, that of improving control; deepening it and 
making it more effective. 

II. REASONS FOR ACQUIRING MASTERY OF THE 
WHOLE BODY 

There are three principal reasons why a general mastery 
of the whole body is necessary as a start toward learning to 
speak effectively. These are: 

A. Without a controlled body a capable voice is practically 
impossible; for skill in the use of the voice comes only as a part of 
general muscular control. 

B. Thinking in speech can be carried on effectively only when a 
general mastery of the whole body has been achieved. 

* Chapter I. 



MASTERING THE WHOLE BODY FOR SPEECH 43 

C. Without control of bodily movements there can be no control 
of the speech signals which people read with their eyes — the easiest 
signals of all that one can read. 

A. Voice and the Whole Body 

Voice is produced by exactly the same sort of activity that 
we use in moving our arms and legs, that is, by the contraction 
and relaxation of muscles. Try it and see. Now, since no 
muscle anywhere in the body can be contracted or relaxed 
without affecting every other muscle, great and small, to 
some extent, any strain or tension in any muscle of the body 
is sure to affect the muscles of the vocal apparatus and thus 
change the character of the voice. Curry says, "No man can 
cramp even his hand or foot or throw his body out of poise 
without more or less perverting his tone, or bring all parts 
into sympathetic relations without improving the vibra- 
tions of his voice."* Anatomists tell us that there are over 
jive hundred muscles which have to act together smoothly and 
properly before we can utter articulate speech sounds. These 
muscles are so woven into other muscle systems that they 
cannot be satisfactorily trained separately. To train the 
voice, therefore, you must "tune up " the whole body. 

When greatly surprised or frightened or excited in any way, 
we are likely to find ourselves tongue-tied or even voiceless 
altogether. During the Great War when the men of the army 
were put into frightful, nerve-racking situations, their speech 
was the first thing to be disturbed. There were literally 
thousands of shell-shocked soldiers who lost their voices 
entirely. Stuttering, stammering, and complete loss of 
voice were observed to be among the very first symptoms of 
shell-shock. This was to be expected, because under a great 
strain the first type of control that breaks down is that type 
of control which has been latest established. Many of these 

* Curry: Foundations of Expression, page 183. 



44 BETTER SPEECH 

men with "aphonia," (loss of voice), retained the control of 
their larger muscles; they could walk and make visible signals 
with their hands and arms; they could even write words, yet 
at the very same time they could not utter one single sound 
of articulate language; and in many cases they could not 
make any sounds with their voices at all. The finest and most 
delicate use that we make of our muscles is in speaking. 

B. The Body and Thinking 

We must learn to think with the whole body if our thinking 
is to be worth much for speech, and, more important still, we 
must be able to think with the whole body when speaking. 
When you are angry you are angry all over. When you are 
sad you are sad all over. You remember the old dog Rover 
who, "when he died, died all over "? He could not help it; he 
was made that way. So are we. You should get over the 
notion that you do your thinking with your brain only. You 
do it with your whole body, with all there is of you. 

The reason for most people's failure in speech is not that 
they are incapable of thinking; the trouble is that they cannot 
think and speak at the same time. Why? Because speaking 
puts kinks and twists, strains and tensions, into the muscles 
which they must use in effective thinking, and so renders 
these muscles helpless in doing the work of thinking. The 
most fundamental part of speech training is in learning so to 
master the body that we can have all of it at our disposal 
when we speak. 

What happens to you when you have thought a matter 
out clearly by yourself and yet cannot tell the class or the 
teacher what you think? What happens when you commit 
to memory a dozen lines of poetry and then cannot stand up 
before a group of people and repeat the words aloud? You 
have all felt the difference between thinking when you are 
alone and thinking while you are trying to speak. The 



MASTERING THE WHOLE BODY FOR SPEECH 45 

trouble is that when you are trying to tell others something, 
your muscles get all tied into knots; and when this has 
happened your " thinker" is out of commission. Mark Twain 
used to tell about a tiny steamboat on the Mississippi which 
had a very small boiler and a very large whistle; he said that 
whenever the whistle blew the engine stopped. That is ex- 
actly what happens to some people when they try to talk. 
The effort to speak involves so much strain that there are no 
muscles left with which to think. Therefore, since it is plain 
that both voice and thinking are dependent upon a mastery 
of the whole body, it is evident that what should be first 
developed is a general physical efficiency. 

C. Visible Signals Made with the Body 

Let us turn now to the question of using the body directly 
in making speech signals. Everything that people see us do, 
means something. Our bodies, whether we control them or 
not, will inevitably tell things to those who look at us. The 
question is: Do our bodies say what we want them to say? 
The way others feel about us is often enough determined 
by what they see us do, without their knowing why they feel 
that way. When you feel, "I do not like So-and-So," you 
often do not know just why. But in all probability you 
have heard him say something or seen him do something 
that turned you against him. 

A few years ago in Elberfeld, Germany, there were some 
horses that seemed more intelligent than most human beings. 
By pointing out the letters with their forefeet, thus spelling 
out words, they could answer all manner of questions. They 
could multiply, add, subtract, divide, take cube roots and 
square roots, and do many other very marvelous "stunts." 
They amazed all who saw them. Many scientists came to 
investigate. When a screen was placed between the horses 
and the man who had trained them, it was found that they 



46 BETTER SPEECH 

were no longer able to do these remarkable things ; they acted 
just like other horses. It was shown that the trainer had 
been making very delicate signals with his muscles, thus 
indicating the answers to the problems which the horses 
were solving. The horses had learned to watch his actions 
and interpret the signals they saw in his almost invisible 
muscle movements. Is it not to be supposed that a human 
being can detect and interpret movements as fine as those 
that can be seen and understood by a horse? It is often from 
these subtle, almost unnoticed, postures and gestures of the 
speaker that we get our deepest impressions of his character. 
What is called "mind reading" is really muscle reading. 

III. VISIBLE BODILY ACTIVITY IN SPEECH 

A. Fundamental Importance of Visible Signals 

When we talk with people we watch them intently. We 
get meanings from what they do, meanings at least as defi- 
nite as those we get from their words; in many cases more so. 
The signs which they make with their arms, hands, and heads 
give us more emphatic evidence of their meaning than does 
their language. We have all tried to fool someone by telling 
him a wrong story, have had him watch us as we tell it, and 
then probably have been disappointed to find that he has not 
been fooled at all. He has watched us while he has been lis- 
tening, and has quite easily decided that we were putting up 
a game on him. Under such circumstances one generally 
says, "I couldn't keep my face straight," that is, one couldn't 
make one's face tell the same story that voice and language 
were telling. When there is a conflict between what we see 
and what we hear, we almost invariably believe what we see 
in preference to what we hear, — "Seeing is believing." 
In Enoch Arden Tennyson says, "Things seen are mightier 
than things heard." 



MASTERING THE WHOLE BODY FOR SPEECH 47 

B. General Principles for the Use of Bodily Activity 

1. Activity. The primary essential is to get the body 
wide-awake all over. What would you think of an automo- 
bile driver who tried to make a new record with only one- 
half of the cylinders in the machine working? Suppose 
the car were a twin-six and only four cylinders were hitting. 
What about the other eight cylinders? They would be just 
so much dead weight for the active parts of the motor to pull 
around. The first thing to be done is to tune up the motor 
to see that every cylinder is working perfectly and that 
there is nothing misplaced or broken in the engine. 

Just so with anyone who is to speak. He had better have 
no cylinders missing or out of commission. From the soles 
of his feet to the scalp of his head, he should be wide-awake, 
alert, alive, and active. It is hard enough to talk with others 
satisfactorily when using all one's resources; one cannot 
afford to try with less than all. Too many speakers are dead 
from the neck down; and some, except for a little activity in 
the muscles of the throat, jaw, and tongue, are almost dead 
from the neck up. Their arms and legs are either useless or a 
positive hindrance to them. Their bodies do little more 
than support their heads. Frequently not even their facial 
muscles are in the game. 

What we mean by "Activity" need not result in a whirl 
of outward, visible motion. Not at all; at its very best, it is 
an inner activity. It is a general readiness to act. We all 
know the difference between being half-asleep and being 
wide-awake. The man who is half-asleep cannot really talk, 
he can only mumble; while the man who is wide-awake can 
speak out earnestly and with vigor. No one can be very much 
in earnest, and not have it affect him all over. We say that 
people who are enthusiastic about things, "go in for them 
heart and soul." It would be more accurate to say that 



48 BETTER SPEECH 

they go in for them with their whole bodies. The more deeply 
we feel about things, the more active we always become all 
over our bodies. This is true whether the activity may be 
seen of others or whether it is hidden from the eye. 

2. Continuity. The next principle is that of continuity, 
or smoothness in the co-ordination of the parts of the body. 
Activity should be steady and smooth, not spasmodic and 
jerky. To return to the automobile; we want a smooth- 
running engine — what the automobile manufacturers adver- 
tise as " smooth power." When the automobile first came 
into use, it was equipped with a one-cylinder engine that 
jerked the car along with a series of starts and jumps. It was 
quite a different affair from the smooth-running sixes, eights, 
and twin-sixes of to-day. Have you ever ridden in an auto- 
mobile when the engine was not running just right? Then 
you know what it is like. One minute all the cylinders are 
hitting; the next, three; then two, then one, and then they all 
miss. Bodily activity needs smoothness even more than 
does an automobile. 

3. Strength. Finally we want power. Not only should 
our automobile have a dependable, smooth-running motor, 
but it should have power with which to take the driver 
through the mud and up the hills. Just so the speaker should 
be active all over, and all the time, and active enough all over, 
all the time. 

EXERCISES 

Let the teacher read aloud certain selections requiring a large 
amount of rather general bodily activity; let the class stand during 
the reading and act as they would if they were trying to communi- 
cate the meaning to others. Let the response be as vigorous as 
possible. Get something started, right or wrong, for a beginning. 
Get out of the rut of old habits. Repeat for smoothness and 
strength. 



MASTERING THE WHOLE BODY FOR SPEECH 49 

IV. POSTURE AND BEARING 

A. Definition 

The first thing that observers are likely to notice about a 
speaker, after they have seen his stature, clothes, and general 
dimensions, is the position he takes. Posture is the physical 
attitude of a speaker. The first meanings we get from any- 
one who speaks to us come from what we see. 

B. General Principles of Effectiveness 

Stand when speaking so that your posture shows what is 
on your mind. Posture should not call attention to itself. 
It should always be as graceful as possible; that is, it should 
be a proper combining of relaxation and tension, ease and 
strength. It should convince those who see it that the 
speaker means sincerely what he is saying and that he is 
anxious for others to get his meaning. 

C. Being " Natural " 

Your posture should not tell those to whom you speak that 
you are flippant when you should be serious, impolite when 
you should be considerate, half-asleep when you should be 
wide-awake, uncomfortable when you should be at ease, 
nervous when you should be controlled, informal when you 
should be formal, antagonistic when you should be friendly, 
and uncertain of attitude when you should be clear and 
definite. 

All of the preceding is an attempt to put meaning into the 
advice, "Be Natural," so often urged upon those who are 
learning to speak. "Be Natural," if it means anything help- 
ful, means, "look as though you mean what you are saying." 
It means, " Do not let the task of speaking make you lose con- 
trol of your muscles." No matter how nervous, frightened, or 
embarrassed you may be in conversation or on the platform, 



50 BETTER SPEECH 

learn to control your muscles so that you can make them say 
what you want them to say. 

In acquiring this control a great deal can be done through 
the exercise of will power. You must cultivate the spirit of a 
certain man who was going into battle. Noticing that his 
knees were knocking together rather vigorously, he said to 
them, "Well, shake away! You'd tremble still more if you 
knew what I know about where I 'm going to take you to-day.' ' 
Be too considerate of those to whom you speak to allow your 
posture to say, "I am embarrassed and uncomfortable," 
for that is bound to make those to whom you speak embar- 
rassed and uncomfortable too. 

D. Slouchiness 

Says J. M. Clapp, in Talking Business, "Do not slouch. 
Most of us do that nearly all the time. We do not stand 
erect. We stand with hands in our pockets or on our hips. 
When we walk we sway, or roll, or swagger. When seated 
we relax too much and sprawl back in our chairs. . . . 
We move about jerkily and needlessly. A commercial artist 
of my acquaintance, a highly intelligent man, wore out his 
welcome in the business houses where he had to sell his ser- 
vices, by his slouchy, careless bearing. ... . His whole 
appearance was slipshod and queer. People could not believe 
that his mind was really orderly and reliable." * Note that 
last sentence. How do you explain the situation? 

E. Specific Rules for Posture 

It is hardly profitable to give a list of specific rules for 
posture. Almost any posture may properly be used at some 
time or other. When standing up to speak, the weight of the 
body should be supported principally on one foot. The vari- 
ous so-called "points " on which the weight may be placed are: 
* Talking Business, p. 42. 



MASTERING THE WHOLE BODY FOR SPEECH 51 

1. The ball of the right foot. 

2. The ball of the left foot. 

3. The heel of the right foot. 

4. The heel of the left foot. 

The only safe rule is the very general rule that your posture 
should make your speech as convincing as possible. Ordi- 
narily, as has been* indicated, such a posture will reveal alert- 
ness, energy, earnestness, and friendliness. 

EXERCISES 

1. Each pupil will work out as many different standing postures 
as he can and present them to the class for analysis and criticism. 
The class will tell what meaning they get from the different postures, 
for what occasion they would be appropriate, and how they may 
be made more effective. 

2. Each pupil will work out different sitting postures, and the 
exercise will be carried on in the same way as Exercise 1. 

3. Each pupil will stand before the class, illustrate possible 
standing postures, and describe the differences in the "feel" of the 
different postures. 

4. Let the class be divided into pairs for working out the follow- 
ing assignment: Illustrate all possible postures for polite conversa- 
tion, showing what they would mean and to what kind of conversa- 
tion they would be adapted. Then each pair will take chairs before 
the class and demonstrate their findings. 

5. Let each pupil imagine himself doing each of the following 
acts and then let him get the right bodily set to express what he 
thinks and feels: 

(a) Accusing someone. (d) Refusing a petition. 

(b) Defying a mob. (e) Insisting that you are right. 

(c) Pleading for something. (f) Telling how it all happened. 

V. MOVEMENT 

A. Definition 

Practically everything that has been said about Posture 
applies to Movement, which means changes in posture and 
position. All movement should be purposeful. It should 



52 BETTER SPEECH 

mean just what the speaker wants it to mean and it should 
not contradict what the voice and language are saying. 

B. Functions of Movements 

A certain amount of movement is desirable and helpful 
under all circumstances. It is a way of holding attention 
and of telling those to whom we speak that we are alive, 
alert, and interested in what we are saying. When a rabbit 
or a fox wishes to escape attention, it "freezes" — stands 
perfectly still in its tracks. In this way it avoids communi- 
cating messages to its enemy. What do we think when a 
speaker strikes a rigid posture and reduces movement to a 
minimum? Are we not likely to feel that he is uncomfortable, 
afraid, or embarrassed? Most boys and girls are almost 
never motionless. When they speak on the playground, they 
are constantly on the move; and to speak in public they 
should show as much life as they do anywhere else. You 
cannot solve the problem of movement by standing still. 

Movement should serve the general purpose of assuring 
the persons spoken to that the speaker feels natural and at 
home while speaking. Movement is also a means of tying 
thoughts together for the audience. It is a kind of punctu- 
ation, of indentation for paragraphing. When you merely 
stand still you give much the same impression as does a 
printed page without commas, periods, or paragraphs. 

C. Kinds of Movement 

Movements are of three general kinds: 

(1) Forward and Backward. 

(2) To Right and Left. 

(3) Turning. 

(1) Forward and Backward. Often added meaning is 
given to what you are saying if you now and then step forward 
or step back. Fit such steps to the changes in your thought, 



MASTERING THE WHOLE BODY FOR SPEECH 53 

to transition points in your composition, and you present a 
form of " speech punctuation." But be sure not to plunge 
and pull like an elephant tied to a stake. 

A single step forward may go nicely with a " therefore/' 
"besides," "and moreover," "in addition to this," "above 
all," and kindred connective words. A step backward may 
say "yet," "still," "despite this," "granting that." 

(2) To Right and Left. Side-stepping is sometimes valu- 
able—side-stepping literally, not figuratively. It is a good 
variant from continued forward and backward stepping. 
It serves the same purpose; it is also subject to the same 
abuses — swaying like one tied to a stake, and putting in 
steps or swings when they add no meaning. 

The side-step or shifting of weight from one foot to the 
other may go well with "in the meantime," "next," "as for 
that," "to be sure," and "nevertheless." 

(3) Turning. One of the best ways of testing your bodily 
control is to find out whether you can turn easily on an axis 
from your feet to your head. It is one of the simplest things 
in the world to do, when you are not frightened; but to some 
it is seemingly impossible. The stiffness so common in high 
school orators, debaters, and declaimers is almost wholly 
of this kind ; inability to turn on the ankles, at the knee, and 
at the hips. These novices stand like posts, and when they 
either continue in the one position too long or move about as 
if they were sore all over, the effect is ludicrous or pitiable. 
Only one thing is funnier or sadder — those times when they 
stand this way and then poke their hands about stiffly 
trying to make gestures. It simply cannot be done with a 
stiff body. A gesture should involve the whole body and not 
merely the arms and hands. It is very important to be able 
to turn with all muscles and joints freely co-ordinating. 



54 BETTER SPEECH 

D. How Much Movement? 

How much movement shall the speaker use? The answer 
is easy: just enough. But how much is "enough"? The 
answer depends upon the factors that make up the speech 
situation — the people who look and listen, the place, the 
time, and what the speaker is saying. Generally it is well 
not to move about very much when beginning to speak. 
Some movement there must always be. An earnest or ex- 
cited man will be expected to move about more than an indif- 
ferent or calm man. When those spoken to are sleepy, more 
movement is called for. Large crowds want a speaker to 
move more than do small crowds. The more formal the 
occasion, the less action and movement will be acceptable. 

All movement is quick to carry messages to those who see 
it. The popular song of a few years ago stated the case fully 
in the phrase, "Every little movement has a meaning all its 
own." Every movement a speaker makes may mean some- 
thing; either the right thing or the wrong thing, but some- 
thing. Even the absence of movement has a deep significance. 
Stand stock still, and your audience will believe that you are 
frightened or "stumped" for the next word. 

1. Fidgeting. Professor Clapp offers some excellent 
advice on this point. "Do not fidget. Most of us do that 
also. There are few people who have not the habit of strok- 
ing the face, moving the feet, playing with watch-chains or 
keys, tipping their chairs when seated, moving articles on 
the desk as they talk, etc. A young real estate operator of 
my acquaintance has to meet people constantly, either indi- 
vidually in conversation or in talks before committees. He is 
an extremely alert, lively young man, but he seems unable 
to control his energy. When he talks he cannot keep on the 
floor. As soon as he gets interested he rises on his toes, 
bends his knees, sways about, until you grow nervous watch- 



MASTERING THE WHOLE BODY FOR SPEECH 55 

ing him. Another man is a sales manager of prominence, a 
man personally of dignity and confidence. When he talks 
he straddles his legs, sways back and forth before his listeners, 
and is forever ramming hands in his pockets, stroking his 
face and brushing his hair. He has never learned to control 
his energy and direct it all toward his one purpose."* This 
quotation indicates that movement, to be helpful in speech, 
must be purposeful, that is, under control and used as one 
form of the speech code. 

EXERCISES 

1. Let each pupil give a pantomimic characterization of the 
following types of persons: 

(a) Lively, energetic, alert. 

(b) Dull, apathetic, slow. 

(c) Self-conscious, diffident, embarrassed. 

(d) Self-assertive, confident, composed. 

(e) Proud, haughty, egotistic. 

The pupils may add to this list indefinitely, bringing in panto- 
mimic character sketches of interesting types which they have 
observed. 

2. Let each pupil, from a story he has read, select a description 
of a character, his walk, actions, general appearance, etc., and 
read the passage to the class playing the part as described. 

3. Extend an arm as if pointing at a flock of birds in the air, 
then say, "See those ducks flying from one horizon to the other!" 
Turn the whole body on the center axis, changing weight from one 
foot to the other, and letting your hand point from one horizon to 
the other without changing the relative position of hand, arm, and 
trunk. Do it with each arm and then with both at once. 

VI. GESTURE 
A. Definition 

Gesture is that part of the speech code by which communi- 
cation is accomplished through the visible activity of hands, 
arms, shoulders, head, and face. The difference between 
* Talking Business, p. 42. 



56 BETTER SPEECH 

movement and gesture as the terms are used in this book is 
that gesture is restricted to apply to the speech activity of 
certain parts of the body, while movement is used to de- 
note more general and total actions such as changes in pos- 
ture and position. Lively conversation is largely made up 
of gestures. 

Almost any activity of the instruments of gesture may at 
some time be effective, and, just as in the case of movement, 
not only gesture but absence of gesture is pretty sure to 
carry meanings. If hands, arms, head, and face are inert 
and immobile, they still carry meanings. Moving or motion- 
less, they mean something all the time. No speaker can 
dodge the problem of gesture any more than he can dodge 
the problems of posture, movement, clothes, or a clean face. 

B. General Principles of Gesture 

There are certain rather definite conventional restrictions 
which have been placed upon gesture, certain general prin- 
ciples of effectiveness, widely accepted, to be neglected at the 
speaker's own risk. Let us now consider some of these gen- 
eral principles. 

1. Every Gesture Should be of the Whole Body 

Gesture is not something to be added on to speech; it is an 
integral part of speech and should be trained into the total 
activity of the whole body. In gesture no joint or muscle 
liveth unto itself alone. All our gestures are affected by 
what the basic muscles do — those of the back, trunk, arms, 
legs, and neck. These muscles are the earliest to be mastered 
in infancy and their habits are most deeply fixed. Also the 
activity of these muscles is most easily understood as speech 
signs, and such activity makes or mars the effect produced 
by the more delicate muscles of the hands and face. Very 
often the cause of awkwardness in the wrist or elbow may 



MASTERING THE WHOLE BODY FOR SPEECH 57 

be found at the ankle, knee, or hip. The stiff hand positions 
of boys and girls are almost always the results of tensions in 
the larger muscles of the body. A gesture seldom is effective 
unless it originates in and is an integral part of a general 
attitude or activity of the body. 

2. Gestures Should be as Graceful as Possible 

Perhaps it would be more accurate to state the principle 
negatively and say that gestures should not be awkward. 
Awkward gestures call attention to themselves; they cease 
to be signs and are noticed as things in themselves. Grace- 
fulness means that the action should be both easy and strong. 
In gesture the curved or broken line is more graceful than 
the straight line. Jerky, abrupt, and angular gestures are 
likely to call attention to themselves and away from the 
meaning. 

3. Gestures Should Precede Utterance 

We have seen that gesture as a part of general physical 
activity develops before voice and language. Men almost 
always speak first by posture, movement, and gesture; and 
after that by words. Watch others and see how this works. 
Reverse this order and you get comic and ludicrous effects. 
Say something with voice and words first and then add the 
gestures and see what happens. Tell someone, "The child 
was so tall." Wait until you have spoken the words and then 
indicate "so tall" by gesture. This will prove to be funny 
because you have broken the law that gesture should come 
before voice and words. " Ideas are conveyed largely by 
suggestion; not by detailed spelling out of a message, but by 
a flash, a picture. We flash an idea across and then spell it 
out in words to verify it." * 

* J. M. Clapp, Talking Business, p, 61, 



58 BETTER SPEECH 

4. Gestures Should Suggest Reserve Power 

There should almost invariably be in every gesture a sug- 
gestion of reserve strength. No matter how vigorous a ges- 
ture may be, it should leave the impression that the speaker 
could be more emphatic if occasion demanded. When ges- 
tures lack reserve they are likely to call attention to them- 
selves and to carry wrong meanings. A speaker should always 
appear to be in control of his gestures. In order to do this, 
cultivate reserve. Hamlet says to the players, "Yet in the 
very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, whirlwind of your 
passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may 
give it smoothness." Excellent advice! By "temperance" 
Hamlet means what we are here calling reserve. 

C. The Arms 

1. Planes of Movement 

The arms move in two general planes: up and down, and 
sidewise. Sidewise they move from the center of the trunk 
outward. All arm gestures should involve the whole arm. 
The impulse should start from the shoulder — really from the 
feet — and should bring into action the whole arm clear out 
to the finger-tips. The principle of reserve applies to the 
movement of the arms. They should rarely be extended to 
the limit, but should rather leave the suggestion that if there 
were something more significant or extensive the arms could 
do more. Strike a balance between a straight arm effect and 
a crooked elbow. Be strong, yet free. 

D. The Hands 

Excepting the face, the hands are the most delicately ex- 
pressive part of the body. The signs which can be made with 
the hands are practically innumerable; yet the meanings of 
certain hand positions are very definite and almost univer- 



MASTERING THE WHOLE BODY FOR SPEECH 59 

sally understood. Wherever a hand is seen in one of these 
so-called basic positions it is given this fixed meaning at once. 
These basic positions are: 

1 . The Hand Supine, that is, palm upward. This is a sign which 
means in general that the statement is one which the 
speaker approves, favors, likes. 

2. The Hand Prone, that is, palm downward. This is the 
reverse of the Hand Supine, and as a speech sign it means 
exactly the opposite. It ordinarily suggests disapproval, 
dislike, disgust, contempt, opposition. 

3. The Clenched Fist expresses intensity. It is used to indicate 
great earnestness, depth of conviction, power. 

4. The Hand Index, that is, with the first finger extended. 
This points out something, a person, a place, a fact, an idea, 
or a sentiment. It is used to compel someone to see a point. 

5. The Hand Averse, that is, palm outward. It suggests 
repulsion, aversion, warning. 

6. Hands in Repose. When the hands are not being used in 
gesture, they should be kept in such a position as to be most 
ready for use. The question is often asked, "May I clasp 
my hands behind my back, or put them into my pockets?" 
or "May I grasp a coat lapel with them?" There surely 
are times when these hand positions are perfectly accept- 
able. The only difficulty with these ways of disposing of 
one's hands is that when thus disposed of the hands are not 
readily available for use when wanted. With a speaker 
who is standing before others the commonest hand position 
is one of relaxation, the hands hanging at the side. Above 
all things, beware of locking your hands somewhere and 
forgetting what you did with them. Keep them ready. 

E. The Head and Face 

In some ways the head is the best of all instruments of ges- 
ture. An armless speaker could be very effective in speaking 
if he knew how to use his head, literally as well as figuratively. 
The head and face are the center of attention for those who 
look at and listen to the speaker. When people look at you 
they really look at your face. What the head and face do 



60 BETTER SPEECH 

cannot possibly escape notice. Therefore, let the face and 
head give no signs of meanings which you do not want them 
to give. If your words suggest pleasure and gladness, smile; 
if they are solemn, do not grin — be sober. In learning to 
control your face it is a good plan to watch the faces of others 
closely. 

Practice before your mirror to make your face flexible and 
expressive. Again, turn away from the mirror; get your face 
set to express some definite meaning; then turn to the mirror 
and observe your expression, making every effort to maintain 
it while you observe it. Cultivate an expressive face; people 
do not like to deal with a stolid mask. Be able to tell the 
truth with facial expression. 

F. Types of Gesture 

There are three general types of gesture, classified accord- 
ing to three general purposes for which we may make ges- 
tures. These are: 

1. Emphatic Gestures. Such gestures as slapping the 
hands together, shaking the head, stamping the foot, are made 
for the purpose of drawing attention to what is being said. 
The characteristic thing about this type is the vigor of execu- 
tion. These gestures are interpreted to mean that the speaker 
is very much in earnest about what he is saying, or at least 
that he is very anxious to have the attention of those to 
whom he is speaking. 

2. Descriptive Gestures. Gestures of this type are used 
for the purpose of making clear the size, shape, and location 
of physical objects and their relations to each other. If you 
are describing a box, you indicate with your hands what its 
dimensions are; its length, breadth, and thickness. Earlier 
in this chapter you were asked to tell us how tall a child was. 
When you placed your hand out before you, palm downward, 
to show his height, you were making a Descriptive Gesture. 



MASTERING THE WHOLE BODY FOR SPEECH 61 

When you say, "There were three windows and a door," you 
may use descriptive gestures to indicate their relative positions. 
3. Suggestive Gesture. The words " suggestive" and 
" gesture" look alike. Consult the dictionary and see what 
their derivation is. Gestures which are symbols of ideas and 
feelings are called Suggestive gestures. These reveal the 
speaker's emotion. In a sense, these gestures are like De- 
scriptive gestures, but there is one important difference; De- 
scriptive gestures picture objects and relations which may be 
seen with the physical eye, while Suggestive gestures pre- 
sent ideas and feelings. Examples of Suggestive gestures are: 

a. "The whole round world"; both arms up and extended, the 
body turning on the center axis from one side to the other. 

b. " We rushed forward"; a hand and arm sweeping out ahead, 
a forward step. 

c. " Every inch a king"; rising to fullest possible stature; 
but not on tiptoe; hands clenched at sides. 

d. "The storm swept everything before it"; turn whole 
body, arm and hand sweeping from before the face to ex- 
treme right or left. 

These suggestive gestures often say what we cannot pos- 
sibly put into words. Here we touch the infinite possibilities 
of communicating with others by means of delicate, refined 
control of our muscles. How much can be seen in the facial 
expression, the shrug of shoulders, the movement of a hand 
outward or upward ! The moving picture actor has to suggest 
practically everything to us by his gestures. Study the screen 
artists to see how wonderful is this art. 

VII. BODILY CONTROL AS HABIT 

A. Conscious Control Necessary in Beginning 

Do not make the mistake of assuming that the authors of 
this text-book advocate the kind of conscious control of the 
body in speaking which would direct attention to posture, 
movement, and gesture in real speaking. The movement of 



62 BETTER SPEECH 

muscles in speech should be habitual, that is, done uncon- 
sciously. We should no more think about our tongues, lips, 
arms, and faces when actually speaking than we should think 
of our fingers in playing the piano. But to improve our 
speech, we must learn consciously, just as we must learn con- 
sciously if we are to improve piano playing. 

Suppose you wanted to improve your game of golf. As- 
sume that you have played golf for some time and that you 
play fairly well. If so, your golf habits are more or less fixed. 
Now, you hire an expert to teach you how to play better. 
He shows you that you have not held your club properly, 
that your stance is not as good as it should be — that you 
stand too close to the ball. He makes you give conscious 
attention to some of these things. You discover that when 
you pay conscious attention to how to hold the golf stick you 
cannot at first play as well as you did before. Conscious 
learning of new habits is always a slow and tedious process. 
Most of us are like the girl who began to take singing lessons. 
A friend asked her how she was getting on and she replied, 
"Oh, I have quit taking lessons. I found that it would take 
me a year to learn to sing as well as I thought I could sing 
already.' ' 

B. Self-criticism 

In order to improve, we must learn to see and hear our- 
selves and to criticise ourselves constructively. The old poet 
tells of the centipede that was walking along the road one 
day when someone inquired, "Which leg moves after which?" 
When the poor creature began trying to figure out the answer, 
it could no longer walk at all, "and fell exhausted in the 
ditch." The point of the story for us in the present connec- 
tion is that if the centipede had wanted to improve its walk, it 
would have had to keep right on figuring until it got out of 
the ditch and began walking differently from any way it had 



MASTERING THE WHOLE BODY FOR SPEECH 63 

ever walked before. At first it probably would not have been 
so rapid in walking, but as the new method became more and 
more automatic, it could have become more efficient than it 
had been. 

C. Uncwisciaus Habit as the G#al ef Training 

The object of the study of Posture, Movement, and Ges- 
ture is not at all to make one's self conspicuous before others, 
but to make it possible for one to use his whole body uncon- 
sciously as an instrument for sending messages to the eyes of 
those to whom he speaks. The ultimate, the best, and indeed 
the only advice is, "To get better speech habits, use all your 
powers." 

EXERCISE 

1. Comment upon the following advice from a recent text-book 
on Speech: "The Speaker should exhaust his vocal resources before 
resorting to gesture." 

2. Each student is to come out before the class and say as much 
as he can of the following in the visible code, without using any 
language: 

1. I will have absolutely nothing to do with it! 

2. Nonsense, perfect nonsense! 

3. Well — after all, I am in doubt about it. 

4. Nevertheless, I shall stand by what I have said, no matter 

what you think. 
5> Ta ke ca re !_ Don't do that again. 

6. Be quiet back there! 

7. Do you really mean that? 

8. Aha! Not that time. 

9. Impossible! It can't be! 

10. That does not concern me in the least. 

11. Your offer pleases me greatly. 

12. That amuses me more than anything I have heard in a long 

time. 

13. If I could only do something! 

14. Who? Why, absurd! 

15. Here I am! What do you want with me? 

16. At your service! 



64 BETTER SPEECH 

17. From my heart I thank you sincerely. 

18. I am to blame; I confess it. 

19. I am dazed, confused, overcome by what I have just learned. 

20. I give up. You are stronger than I. 

21. Stay away from me! 

22. No, no, no! 

23. Don't tell me! I don't want to hear a word of it! 

24. That is perfectly disgusting to me! 

25. I am not afraid! 

26. Shall I tell him about it or shall I keep it to myself? 

27. What shall I do? 

28. That is a malicious He! 

29. That makes no difference to me! 

30. Did he go out that door, or that one? 

31. Run, quick! 

32. Don't do it! Wait a minute, please! 

33. Oh, how splendid! 

34. Wonderfully impressive! 

35. Heaven be thanked for that! 

36. Now, what do you want? 

37. I have nothing to apologize for. I can face any man with a 

clear conscience. 

38. I feel friendly toward you! 

39. I am confident that I can do it. 

40. Further than that I know nothing. 

41. Yes, I am in a bad fix. 

42. One is as good as the other. 

43. Decide, then, to take one course or the other. 

44. I was glad to be left out of it entirely. 

45. I feel very uncomfortable. 

46. I cannot do anything about it. 

47. Come on, don't be afraid! 

48. You may be right. 

49. My, but it is cold in here! 

50. Just a word before you go. 

51. What was that noise? 

52. Keep still a moment! 

53. How I wish that I could do it! 

54. Now, wait a minute! Don't get excited! 

55. That makes me very angry. 

56. I defy you! 



MASTERING THE WHOLE BODY FOR SPEECH 65 

57. Let me never see you here again! 

58. I hate him! 

59. Under no circumstances! 

60. Let me see, what was his name? 

61. This is just between us. 

62. That puzzles me greatly. 

63. I am the most important person here! 

64. What I promised, I have done! 

65. I have offered you everything. 

66. The waves were fifty feet high. 

67. The cliff rose steep and high above me. 

68. Don't disturb yourself, sit still! 

69. I thank you, that is sufficient. 

70. All that now lies behind me! 

71. I implore you! 

72. It was so wide. 

73. I cut it right through the middle. 

74. From high in the air to the depths of the sea! 

75. He made his way through the crowd. 

76. What a contemptible man! 

77. Just explain this, will you? 

78. One must always keep this clearly in view. 

79. That is my own affair. 

80. Let me think, how did that go? 

81. I don't understand you. 

82. Tell me the truth, now! 

83. Hold on, not so fast! Come back here! 

84. I warn you! 

85. Leave the room! 

86. Please go! 

87. First, second, third. 

88. That is a very delicate matter. 

89. I am listening. 

90. For such a reward? I should say not! 

91. Where have they all disappeared to? 

92. This for me? I am amazed! 

93. Fine! How could you do it? 

94. I am embarrassed. 

95. I feel like a king! 

96. As far as the east is from the west! 

97. Pull down that flag! 



66 BETTER SPEECH 

3. Each student will practice saying the following, using voice 
and pantomime together: 

1. Talent is something, tact is everything! 

2. The stick was so long and so big around. 

3. Let me explain: I was here and he was there. 

4. Don't you know me? 

5. No, I shall never do it, never! 

6. Too low they build who build beneath the stars! 

7. I protest against the action. Stop! 

8. Gentlemen may cry, " Peace, peace!" but there is no peace. 

9. Deep stillness settled down over the plain. 

10. The majestic mountain lies two miles above the surround- 

ing hills. 

11. A touchdown! A touchdown! We have won the game! 

12. Go straight down this street, then turn to your right, and 

you will find the place at the top of the hill over there. 

13. There is the door. Get out! 

14. The point I wish to make is this: 

15. As far as the east is from the west. 

16. You have had your chance to talk; now you listen to me. 

4. Let the class divide itself into groups and present motion 
pictures, eliminating voice and words. Let one student in each 
group act as the director and explain the story to the same extent 
as the director of the real movies does by the words thrown on the 
screen. Scenarios may be written and presented in writing to the 
teacher beforehand. 

5. Hiram Corson quotes Archbishop Whately as saying, " Enter 
into the spirit of what you read, read naturally, and you will read 
well." In criticising this advice Professor Corson writes, "Such 
instruction as this is not unlike that which Hamlet gives to Guilden- 
stern, for playing upon a pipe, and would be, in the majority of 
cases, hardly more efficacious: 'Govern these ventages with your 
fingers and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, and it will dis- 
course most excellent music. Look you, these are the stops.' 
Guildenstern replies: 'But these cannot I command to any utter- 
ance of harmony; I have not the skill.' The last sentence tells the 
whole story." Corson, The Voice and Spiritual Education, pp. 14, 
17. 

Make a talk explaining the foregoing in the light of the text thus 
far. 



CHAPTER IV 

VOICE 

ORAL EXPRESSION 

All true culture, to be true, must be unconscious of the process which 
induced it. But before it is attained, one must be more or less 'under 
the law/ until he become a law to himself, and do spontaneously and 
unconsciously what he once had to do consciously and with effort. 

Hiram Corson. 

Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent. 

DlONYSIUS THE ELDER. 
OUTLINE 

I. The Voice Vital to Good Speech. 

II. The Nature of Voice. 

A. Voice as Vowel Tone and Consonant Sounds. 

B. Voice a Phase of Breathing. 

1. Vocal purity. 

2. Using the proper tone. 

3. Vocal strength. 

C. The Sounds of American Speech. 

1. Vowels. 

2. Consonants. 

III. Voice and Words. 

A. Pronunciation. 

B. Articulation. 

IV. Voice and Sentence Meaning: Oral Expression. 
A. What Sentence Meaning Involves. 

1. The attitude of the speaker. 

2. The sentence sense. 

V. Analysis of Sentence Meaning. 

A. Revealing the Speaker's Attitude: Expressiveness. 
1. By kind of tone. 

67 



68 BETTER SPEECH 

2. By strength of voice. 

3. By rate. 

4. By level of pitch. 

B. Making the Sentence Understood: Emphasis. 

1. By variety of pitch. 

(a) The slide. 

(b) The step. 

2. By variety of time. 

(a) Holding the tone. 

(b) Pausing. 

(c) Phrasing. 

3. By variety of vocal strength. 

C. Ideas that Need Emphasis. 

VI. Continuity in Speech. 

A. The Incessant Need of Variety. 

I. THE VOICE VITAL TO GOOD SPEECH 

You have lived your years with your voice; do you know 
how it sounds? Strange as it may seem, most people do not 
know what their voices sound like. Yet this is entirely under- 
standable; because of the very fact that every man, having 
lived with the voice that has brought him to his present state 
of life, finds it easy to assume that this voice must be at 
least good enough. This is the way people explain them- 
selves when they either do not know how large a part in 
one's success or failure Voice plays, or when they have defec- 
tive ears. The number of people whose vocal methods need 
no improvement is veiy small. The number who have a most 
urgent need in that direction is amazingly large. Another 
group of people, though, are neither indifferent nor ignorant of 
the evils of poor voice: those who have had painful experi- 
ence with a lisp or stammer or drawl or thick tongue or habit 
of jamming all their words together. They know they are 
hurt by their voices, but they do not know what to do 
about it. 

You will find it interesting to get acquainted with your own 



VOICE . 69 

voice, to hear yourself as others hear you. You will find sur- 
prises in store. Have you ever heard your own voice in a 
dictaphone or phonograph? The usual exclamation when 
you hear it for the first time is, "Is that my voice?" And 
friends always assure you that it "sounds just like you." 
We need a formal introduction, our voices and we. This 
chapter will give you, the reader, a chance to put you and 
your voice on better speaking terms. 

The reason why everybody can afford to study his own 
vocal ways is that the voice is either an outlet to thought 
or a bar across its path. Thoughts worked out into words 
in your mind cannot influence other people unless they 
can get out. For speech this means that they must use the 
vocal passage. In speech the only thing a word can be to a 
listener is a sound. The voice has everything to do in decid- 
ing whether or not your words are going to make sense and 
induce people to listen to you. The person with such a bar 
between his thoughts and other people is in a pretty sad 
case; he needs help; he is a good deal of a cripple. And few 
there are whose voices are complete outlets free from any 
bar. 

Daily Practice Profitable. It is of interest to the learner 
that a little work on the voice goes a long way; that is, if 
intelligently done. A few minutes a day spent on trying 
deliberately to remove some defect in your voice, will do a 
surprisingly large amount of good. This is especially true of 
young people, whose voices are not yet fixed for life. You 
have all noticed how people admire the man or woman with 
a good voice; the chance is yours for getting some of the same 
benefits by a little faithful training. Take this chapter se- 
riously and properly, and you will be received on better terms 
almost everywhere you go. 

Let it be remembered that an important part of the train- 
ing of voice is training also of the ear. Until you can know 



70 . BETTER SPEECH 

what your voice sounds like to others, you cannot hope to 
correct it very successfully. So one of the first things to 
learn is to hear yourself as you are. This you can do by 
listening carefully to others, then comparing yourself with 
them. Here is a lesson you can begin any time. 

II. THE NATURE OF VOICE 

Before we can start to correct our voices, after we have 
begun to suspect what they sound like, we have to know 
what to look for. Just as with an automobile or watch you 
cannot safely make changes unless you know the various 
parts. There are five main considerations in the use of the 
voice, five main sources of success or failure, five ways of 
finding an outlet to your thought or else of putting a bar 
across its path. They are: 

1. The Vowel Sounds; Tone. 

2. Consonant Sounds. 

3. Word Sounds or Forms. 

4. Expression in Sentences. 

5. Making Continuous Talk Interesting. 

A. Vowel Tones and Consonant " Noises " 

What the Tone is. The tone part of your voice is the thing 
the voice is built on; the sound made by the voice-box, or 
larynx. The way to recognize it is first to talk and then to 
whisper. The difference between talking out loud and whis- 
pering is that in one you use tone and in the other you do not. 
Good speech is always rich in tone; one form of poor speech 
has too much of the effect of whispering. It is the tone, the 
sound from the voice-box, that has to be studied and culti- 
vated. 

What Consonant Sounds Are. The special mark of conso- 
nants is what the psychologists call " noises." These noises 
are different from tones in that they are short, almost instan- 



VOICE 71 

taneous. They are in the nature of explosions, puffs, clicks, 
catches, clucks, hisses. In the main they require consider- 
ably activity around the mouth and throat. These " noises" 
must be made with alertness or they miss the mark. 

B. Voice as a Phase of Breathing 

How Tone is Made. Tone is a special form of exhalation of 
the air from the lungs. It is breath set in vibration by the 
vocal cords on its way out. The breath can be sent out of the 
mouth or nostrils without coming in contact with the vocal 
cords, or it can blow against them and cause them to vi- 
brate. When it does so, it makes Tone. Thus breathing is a 
thing to be studied if we are to understand and correct Tone. 

Note the steps in breathing: 

(a) Flattening the diaphragm. 

(b) Hardening the abdomen. 

(c) Filling the chest. 

(d) Emptying the chest. 

(e) Relaxing the abdomen. 

(f) Letting the diaphragm rise. 

The Lungs. People talk about the lungs as the things that 
do our breathing for us ; no, the lungs are helpless bags, they 
can do nothing; they merely are there to be filled or emptied 
by certain muscles. These muscles are around the lungs, and 
below them. The most important of these is the muscle we 
call the diaphragm. It is the power that provides for most of 
the opening and closing of the lungs. The rest is done by the 
muscles of the lower abdomen and those connected to the 
ribs. But do not forget that the active agent in breathing 
is muscles; and in training your breathing you are not train- 
ing lungs, but these muscles. 

Note how the lungs work. If you had a soft leather sack 
inside another sack of strong flexible rubber and both had the 
one outlet, the inside sack would fill and empty whenever 



72 BETTER SPEECH 

the outer and stronger sack was made larger or smaller. The 
lungs are the inner sack; the outer is made up of the chest 
wall which can be expanded and contracted by the action of 
muscles. These muscles cause the air to rush into and out of 
the lungs. 

Remember that the lungs do not "do" anything; they 
merely are there to be filled and emptied by the action of the 
surrounding muscles. 

The Diaphragm. The most effective of the breathing mus- 
cles is the diaphragm. This is a broad flat muscle placed like a 
floor under the lungs, all the way around the body. It is 
attached to the outside walls of the abdomen. When it is 
relaxed, or soft, it is large and expanded in size like any other 
muscle; when it is tensed and hardened, also like any other 
muscle, it is smaller and drawn in. This means that relaxed 

it arches upward, (^ \) and tensed it is flattened out 

( ). You can see how this affects breathing; when 

the diaphragm is hardened and straightened, it is lower than 
when it is soft; it thus exerts a pull on the lung bag, and the 
air comes rushing in through the nose and mouth, filling all the 
thousand little crannies in the lungs. When it is relaxed and 
allowed to arch upwards again in its relaxed position it 
sends the air out of the lungs. 

The Muscles of the Abdomen. So much for easy everyday 
breathing. But we can do more than use just the diaphragm; 
we can get more air by using the muscles of the abdomen 
below the diaphragm. The diaphragm is just below the ribs. 
Draw a triangle with its apex at the bottom of the breast 
bone, its sides along the edges of the ribs, and its base across 
the lower edge of the ribs; in there is your diaphragm. But 
below this are many muscles that can be used in breathing, 
the muscles of the abdomen. To them the diaphragm is 
attached, and when they pull hard, more power is given to 
the diaphragm. Try it and see how it works. Take a deep 



VOICE 73 

breath and notice that first you harden below the breast 
bone; then when it comes to taking in still more air, you 
harden all around the abdomen, making it hard all over. 
This is real abdominal breathing. 

Then to get your lungs really full, you pull the muscles 
around the ribs in all directions, out and up. You can also 
pull on them with the muscles of the ribs, shoulders, and back. 
Try it; having made your abdomen hard; notice that the 
attempt to fill completely is an expanding of the chest in all 
directions. This chest breathing should come second, not 
first. 

To correct your breathing, observe this natural order: (1) 
harden the diaphragm, (2) harden the abdomen, (3) lift and 
expand the chest. 

How Breathing Helps Tone-Making. But how does breath- 
ing make Tone? This is the next step. It is important 
because Tone-making is not quite the same as breathing. 
For in the first place it is only one-half of it, the exhalation 
half; the tone is made by the breath on its way out. 

The diaphragm and other muscles do not work quite 
the same for tone-making as for exhaling one's breath in 
ordinary breathing. The chief difference is that when you 
are merely breathing, you let go suddenly when you exhale. 
Take a deep breath and then exhale; notice how you merely 
quit holding tight and relax suddenly. Right there is the 
difference between tone-making and breathing; in tone-mak- 
ing you have to hold on. In other words, you must control the 
air on its way out. Controlled breathing is positively necessary 
for making tone. Try it with the sound ah; inhale deeply 
and then utter the ah with a prolonged tone. To do so you 
must hold on to your breath and let it out, not with a gasp, 
but by degrees. The same is true for singing; breathe as 
normally, but hold the tone and the breath. So the problem 
of breathing for speaking is this: 



74 BETTER SPEECH 

(1) to get the lungs really full by using the whole set of 
breathing muscles, and 

(2) to regulate the passage of the air out of the lungs into 
the throat. 

Keep the Abdomen Hard. The secret of success in holding 
the Tone is in hardening the abdomen. The more you can 
"get the watermelon effect " below the chest bone, the better 
your chance for controlling the passage of air. Take the 
sound ah again. Inhale as shown above; be sure to harden 
the whole abdomen; hold the tone ah for ten seconds; then 
during the making of the Tone note that the abdomen grad- 
ually shrinks in size. Don't worry about the lungs, they will 
take care of themselves if you work the abdomen aright. 
Do it again and note that the secret of success is in the 
diaphragm and the whole abdomen. 

Thus letting go gradually with the diaphragm and abdo- 
men enables you to hold the tone. Now to make that tone 
clean and pure, so that the people will like to hear it, you 
must control this effort of letting go gradually. Here is where 
much practice is needed, and it is the point at which many 
people go wrong in their use of voice. For one thing, they 
let go of their breath too fast and merely gasp; you can notice 
this effect in little children trying to tell a story: "'N then 
— gasp — I took hoi' of his tail — gasp — and, — gasp — and — 
gasp again — what do you think he did — gasp! " You have 
heard it many times, and probably have done it yourself! 

You get the same effect when a man talks about the " whole 
round world" with quick sharp tones; it does not produce 
the effect at all of thinking of the "w-h-o-l-e r-o-u-n-d 
w-o-r-l-d." Say the line "Roll on, thou deep and dark blue 
ocean, roll." Probably at first you will exhale too fast, and say 
it too quickly, and it will not seem to mean much. Now hold 
the abdomen hard, and say it " Ro-1-1-1 on-n-n, thou-ou dee-eep 
and da-a-r-r-k blue o-o-ocean-n, r-r-o-o-o-1-1-1." If you 



VOICE 75 

control the relaxing of the abdomen, you can do this; if you 
cannot, you fail. Yet that is the only way the line has any 
worth-while sense. Practice this effect with other sentences, 
and note the workings of the abdomen. 

1. Vocal Purity 

Making the Tone Pleasant. There are few enough pleasant 
voices. Many speech troubles arise from rough, harsh, 
grating, or squeaky voices. Maybe you have that kind of 
voice but can't hear it correctly. Let us assume, anyway, 
that you can profit by looking your voice over to see if other 
people like to hear it. Often enough we admire other people 's 
characters and manners largely because they have rich, 
smooth voices. A smooth voice can sell goods, convert 
doubters, and win followers in cases where a rough voice may 
lose every time. You will live happier for having a pleasant 
voice, be in better health, think better of yourself, and have 
more influence in inducing other people to do what you wish 
them to do. 

The Open Throat. To get a pure tone, cultivate an Open 
Throat. If you have had singing lessons, this is the first thing 
the teacher tried to teach you; to open the throat — not merely 
the mouth — and then let the sound come out clean and sweet. 
It begins in the kind of breathing explained above. When 
you can control your diaphragm, you are ready to make pure 
tone. 

Now we cast our eye higher up, upon the throat, where 
the tone is made. We study now the way of using the voice- 
box. It is mainly a matter of not working it too hard. Do 
the work with the abdomen, let the neck and jaw and throat 
take it easy. This is the secret of getting a pure tone. The 
surest way to get the throat properly relaxed is to use sounds 
beginning in the letter h, like ha, ho, haw, hoo, how, he, hay. 
You cannot tighten your throat and make these sounds 



76 BETTER SPEECH 

properly; so they will help you get the open throat. Say 
them over a number of times and notice what the throat feels 
like and what the tone sounds like. 

Recall what you have learned now about abdominal breath- 
ing and the use of the h sounds and apply it to making sounds 
that are not aspirated, that have not the h. Say ah, oh, oo, 
awe, ow, ee, I, a (long). But be sure to hold your throat 
just as open as when you used the h. This is not easy; you 
will have to be on the alert to hear aright what the sound is 
and remember what it ought to be. Also you will have to 
notice how your throat feels when you get it right, so you can 
do it again. Study this with care and you will make progress. 

EXERCISE 

Next, apply this principle of the open throat to your talk. Say 
"All roads lead to Rome," and keep the throat in the same posi- 
tion as when you used the h sound. Then say "How are the mighty 
fallen!" Others that can be used are: 

that this too, too solid flesh would melt! 

What bring ye home to Venice? 

When stars are in the quiet sky — 

Break, break, break on thy cold grey stones, O Sea. 

Lest we forget, lest we forget. 

Observe the "Long Line." If you will notice, you will dis- 
cover that in saying ha you are successful in making a pure 
tone only when you lengthen your whole face. A squeaky 
or raspy tone, on the other hand, is made with the face 
widened. So it is a good rule that if you wish to make sure 
to open your tone, make a long face while you do it. Of 
course this advice does not apply to those who already make 
a long enough face and a pure enough tone. It is for those 
who give a flat sound or a scratchy sound or a rasp. Be sure 
to do all these things if you want to get over the rough sound. 



VOICE 77 



EXERCISE 



1. Fill the lungs and harden the abdomen. 

2. Control the outgo of air by gradually shrinking the abdomen. 

3. Keep the throat as open as when saying ha. 

4. Make the face as long as you can without sounding hollow. 

Talk with the Jaw Loose. Can you shake your jaw sepa- 
rately from the motion of the whole head? If you can, then 
you can find out what it is to keep the jaw loose; a very- 
important part of making pure tone. Say ah, shaking the 
jaw; you can hear the looseness; and if the looseness is there, 
the tone will not be tight or restricted. 

EXERCISE 

Another test is first to yawn, or go vigorously through the pre- 
tensions of yawning. Do it, and notice what your jaw muscles 
feel like after you get through; they are relaxed, and willing to stay 
so. Just as soon as you finish the yawn, say ah, without tighten- 
ing up the jaw muscles. If you do it right, you will make a pure 
tone. Then learn how to get this relaxation without having to 
yawn, so you can use it all the time. 

Try to Keep the Jaw Loose all the Time. If you get tired 
when you talk much or if you still have an impure 
tone, it is because you are tightening around the neck. Make 
the power come from the abdomen; don't try to force the 
tone out by the muscles of the throat; almost all people 
do, but they also make unpleasant sounds when they do so. 
Keep the throat out of the game and let the abdomen do the 
work. That is what it is for; the throat is only for a passage- 
way past the vocal cords. 

2. Using the Proper Tone Quality 

Once you get the tone smooth and clean, then there is 
another important step to be learned. This is to make the 
right kind of tone. You will understand what is meant by 
remembering how people sound when they are angry or sad 



78 BETTER SPEECH 

or in earnest or exalted or weak or feeling the liveliness of 
things. The differences in different sounds are differences in 
kinds of tones. They are called by another good name, — 
different qualities of the voice. 

How Tones Differ. These different tones go by the names 
of: 

1. Oral; a light, heady tone. 

2. Orotund; a robust, round tone. 

3. Pectoral; very chesty. 

4. Aspirate; whispering. 

5. Guttural; growling. 

6. Nasal; ringing. 

These tones differ, naturally, in the way they are made. 
They are departures from the kind of tone you have been 
working on, the simple pure tone. They are either more or 
they are less than that. Now to understand how to master 
these tones, first notice that when you make the ah sound, 
you can feel the rumble or tickle of the sound more keenly 
at certain parts of the chest, neck, jaw, or face. This vibra- 
ing is called Resonance. It is a slight jarring of the bones of 
the chest, neck, jaw, nose, and cheeks. It can be acquired 
and learned, and is much worth acquiring. You can improve 
your tone power by trying the different tones named above; 
growling, whispering, using the ringing voice, and the rest. 

Here are suggestions as to how to learn these tones : 
0(1) Oral. This is the tone most girls use without special 
effort; the one they use most commonly. Most of them will 
not have to learn it. Boys can make it by trying to sound 
like a girl, without trying a falsetto. The chief thing to do is 
to get the resonance for the voice from high up in the cheek 
bones and to keep the resonance, as much as possible, away 
from the chest and the neck. If you wish to use this voice 
and in the right place, talk as if you were weak, gentle, or 
yearning for something in a sentimental mood. 



VOICE 79 

EXERCISE 

Utter these sentences: 

Where can I go for help! 

With this my dying breath I charge you, Be faithful. 

"How sweet the moonbeam sleeps upon this bank." 

o (2) Qrs&imd. Tone. This is the voice public speakers need 
most; it is round and full. You make it by placing the 
resonance everywhere you can all at once, from the chest to 
the forehead, and around the mouth most particularly. It 
gets its name from the Latin words meaning round mouth. 
Harden the abdomen, press the sound out strongly, and make 
it resound strongly in the face. 

EXERCISE 

Use it in sentences like these: 

This was the noblest Roman of them all. 

I care not what course others may take, but as for me, give me 
liberty or give me death. 

God of our fathers, known of old, 
Lord of our far-flung battle line — 

Oh, why must we bear such heavy burdens! 

(3) The Pectoral is the tone that is made as deep in the 
chest as possible; it is used rather rarely; for the deepest 
solemnity or fear. As in Hamlet, "I am thy father's spirit." 

(4) The Aspirate is nothing other than whispering; you 
can all do it, and need little practice in it. 

(5) The Guttural is a rough, harsh sound, as in growling or 
roaring like a lion. It is much less used than the others, only 
for the deepest feeling of fear or anger. 

(6) The Nasal tone is worthy of some special consideration. 
It has a pleasant and an unpleasant aspect. Every good 
voice uses nasal resonance; it is the kind most sought for 
in singing. We like the man who says his m's and n's and 



80 BETTER SPEECH 

ing's with something of a ring; it interests and delights us. 
But we do not like the man who has, as someone has called 
it, a "nosey" tone. The nasal resonance can be overdone; 
and when overdone, makes us dislike the speaker or singer. 
Be not over-nasal if you would be liked and followed with 
interest. 

The real Nasal tone is made by getting a good ring in all 
"nasal" sounds, m, n, and ing. Words that contain these 
sounds are rather common and can be so pronounced as to 
make speech richer and more resonant. 

EXERCISE 

Say, with vigorous Nasal resonance: 
I am a Roman Citizen. 
The tremendous boom of the cannon announced the coming 

danger. 
Ring out, wild bells! Ring on. 

The Nasal also plays a part in words like gaze, broad, drag, drove, 
guide, crowd, greed, proud. 

Utter these sentences with abundant Nasal resonance: 

We gazed on the broad field beneath the ledge where we stood. 
They were proud warriors that poured through the narrow vale. 
In this good glade we spread our tired bodies in repose. 

Using the Right Tone. A knowledge of these various tones 
is worth having only as a means of enabling you to do what 
you cannot do now. If you cannot use the Orotund, you will 
never make much of a public speaker and will not be impres- 
sive when you talk, no matter when or where. You will 
always be too mild or too modest to convince people that 
you mean what you say and that you know you are in the 
right. If you cannot use the Oral tone, you will never be able 
to speak gently, sweetly, or to tell of things that are delight- 
ful, beautiful, dainty, and rare. Nor will you be able to 
interpret or play a part in a story or play that must represent 



VOICE 81 

weakness or delicacy. You will go about sounding heavy, 
rough, even harsh. If you cannot sound chesty or growl or 
whisper, then there are many kinds of reading, impersonating, 
and acting you can never hope to take part in. Also you 
will be poorly prepared to express all you feel in conversation 
and public address. And if you do not acquire proper Nasal 
resonance, you will be uninteresting and dull to listen to. 
There is real gain in mastering all these different kinds of 
voice. 

3. Vocal Strength 
" touch " 

To insure a hearing and the favor of your listeners, it is not 
enough that your tones be pure and of the right kind; they 
must also be of the right degree of strength. Boys are likely 
to be too loud, girls too quiet. Speakers who are too badly 
frightened either bawl too loud or shade off toward a whisper 
or a twitter. Others seem to be unable to tell how far away 
listeners are, shouting at those near at hand or purring to 
those in the distance. Musicians have a word that best 
carries the right idea of the need of regulating the amount of 
noise used; they call it Touch. Good speaking requires as 
delicate a Touch as good piano playing. 

To regulate Touch, again you must have mastery of 
breathing, of Tone-making, and in particular of the holding 
power of the abdomen. To make a loud sound correctly — ■ 
and still keep it pure — you must give a quick hardening of 
the whole abdomen; to make a light sound, do this in the 
same way but more gently. 

EXERCISE 

Utter the numbers from 1 to 10, starting softly, gradually growing 
louder from one to the next. Try to make the same degree of 
change at each step. Keep the abdomen hard all over while 
doing it. 



82 BETTER SPEECH 

Reverse the process from 10 to 1, starting loud and growing 
more and more quiet. Keep the degree of difference the same. 
Shout with a firm abdomen: 

Make way for the King's messenger! 
On right into line, march! 
Stand back from that fire! 
"Thou too sail on, Ship of State!" 

Keep an Open Throat on Loud Tones. Nothing will put a 
voice out of commission sooner than shouting with a tight 
throat. Shouting in itself is not necessarily hard on the voice; 
many public speakers in large halls or out in the open air 
have to shout on almost every syllable, yet by knowing how 
to pump with the abdomen and keep the throat relaxed, they 
can talk for hours without shredding their voices. In- 
experienced people, though, get out of voice often with one 
good shout — or rather, one bad one. In general, people do 
not like to hear others shout; most particularly do they 
resent it when the shout is rough, raucous, and strident. 
You get the experience when a newsboy barks or roars in 
your face with the characteristic newsboy whang; it makes 
you angry. Yet there is a very large place in speaking and 
reading for a full supply of sound. 

There are many times when the soft voice loses by not 
carrying the meaning you intend. Many people are not 
guided by gentleness any of the time, and all of us have 
moments when we have to be ordered around. To control 
men, have a powerful voice, and then use the power with 
judgment. To get strength of voice, work faithfully on 
exercises and watch how you use your voice in conversation, 
at play, and in your appearances in public gatherings. Also 
study how others use their voices. See if you can tell what 
effects are produced by the open throat and the effective 
abdomen, and what effects by the strength of the tone. 

Value of Controlling Touch. There are many meanings 



VOICE 83 

you cannot make other people understand unless you can 
talk quietly, loudly, and in between. The person who can 
talk only on one level of strength is very much like a child 
who has only a few words to use. And the interesting part 
of this is that many of these things are pretty important to 
your success in life; as, the ability to show people that you 
are dead in earnest, or that you are much stirred up, that 
your dignity is offended, or that you can be gentle and 
sympathetic, or kindly and quiet. 

To be prepared for life's struggle you have to be able both 
to roar and to purr. 

C. The Sounds of American Speech 

1. The Vowel Sounds 

It is principally the difference in the position of the mouth 
that causes the difference in the vowel sounds. The only effec- 
tive way to learn these sounds and positions — if you do not 
already know them — is through trying until you succeed ; lis- 
tening to good models, then trying to do it in their way, al- 
ways listening with care and trying to get your throat and 
mouth to do it correctly. In time your ear will tell you that 
you have hit upon it; then you can get it right more fre- 
quently, and eventually can do it correctly every time and 
without having to worry about it. 

The vowel sounds are not nearly so numerous as the ways 
the vowel letters can be marked in the dictionary. For ex- 
ample, what you will find marked as i in machine, ee in meet, 
ie in believe, ei in receive, 02 in Ccesar, e in eve, is all one and the 
same sound. So with a in age, ei in eight, ea in feaze, ai in 
strait; the sound is the same. 

Counting by sounds and not by combinations of letters 
and dictionary (diacritical) marks, we find that the number 
of vowel sounds is 17 or 18; some say one or two more or less. 



&> 



84 BETTER SPEECH 

You see these sounds are in some cases so nearly alike that 
you can call them the same or different just as you please. 
That is one reason why many people have difficulty in 
making sounds correctly and pleasingly — they do not take 
care to get the finer distinctions. Yet without making these 
finer distinctions you class yourself in with the careless or the 
ignorant. 

Here we shall call the number 18, as follows: 

1. a as in father 11. o as in home 

2. a as in past 12. 6 as in got 

3. a as in all 13. u as in cute 

4. a as in care 14. ti as in nut 

5. a as in fate 15. u as in urge 

6. e" as in eve 16. oo as in boot 

7. e as in met 17. do as in cook 

8. I as in fine 1 ^ J ou as in house 

9. I as in in ' { ow as in cow 
1 n f e as in serve 

' { I as in girl 

Most of these vowel sounds cause little difficulty. Only a 
few constitute the basis for study and drill. The majority of 
vowels are pronounced readily and accurately; the few that 
are troublesome are worthy of special attention. These are 
numbered in the list, 1, 2, 10, 13, 16. 

(1) Long Italian a, as in father. This sound is not trouble- 
some if you are willing to make it the way the dictionary 
demands. Few people have any disposition to use it wrongly 
in such words as far, large, car, father. Mispronunciations 
on such words are almost always from ignorance of what 
good usage is. The type of words in which this sound is 
mispronounced most often are such as aunt, grass, laundry, 
haunt, half. Mispronunciations on these sounds are made 
both ignorantly and willfully; some do not know how, others 
insist on not using the long Italian a sound. There is no law 
to compel such a pronunciation, so no doubt if people insist 



VOICE 85 

on not doing what the dictionary orders, there is nothing 
to do about it. To be right, consult the dictionary. 

(2) Short Italian a, as in past. This is the same kind of 
sound as the long Italian a, but made in a shorter length of 
time, uttered more quickly. To say father, you hold the fa 
sound for some time; to say past, you get the sound over 
with more quickly, but holding your throat in the same 
position. It is again a matter of whether you care to con- 
form to the dictionary usage. Only one way is correct. 

There is this to be said for the use of either of the Italian a 
sounds; if you expect to go on the public platform or take 
part in acting on the stage, you will limit your success if you do 
not learn to use these sounds as the dictionary would have 
you. Audiences, cultivated audiences, insist on your pro- 
nouncing these aright; and other kinds of audiences think 
better of you if you know what is good use and what is not. 
For public purposes they are just about indispensable. If 
you insist on disregarding the dictionary, stay off the public 
platform until you change your mind. 

EXERCISE 

Use the right sound of Italian a on the following words: 

Long Italian a 

ah aunt balmy calm 

art arm qualm almond 

palm saunter flaunt laughter 

calf laundry gaunt gape 

Short Italian a 

grass basket banana France 

path casket demand romance 

fast answer surpass glance 

ask fancy master plaster 

(10) The Waved e and i as in serve and girl. This sound is 
sometimes disregarded in the United States, but not in 



86 BETTER SPEECH 

Canada or England or Ireland. The word fir is not pro- 
nounced the same as the word fur; earn is a different word 
from urn; the city where Abraham was born, Ur, is not pro- 
nounced like the word to be wrong, err. The best way to 
get this sound right is to take these last two words, Ur and 
err, and use them as an exemplification of the right sound 
to use for this waved sound. Add to them the word air. 
Pronounce Ur, then air; now halfway between them is err. 
Use this order: Ur, err, air, and make the sound in err just 
halfway between the other two. Then reverse it: air, err, 
Ur. Repeat this till your ear tells you what the right 
sound is. 

EXERCISE 
Use this sound on these words: 



sir 


earnest 


bird 


earn 


servant 


verse 


girl 


deserve 


nerve 


learn 


early 


perch 



(13) Long u as in cute. This is a much abused sound, by 
people who are ignorant of what is right or else are too lazy 
to use it correctly. The point to notice is that it always has a 
y sound at the beginning of it. When you say beauty (by- 
ooty) you get this y sound all right; but when you say 
"dooty" for duty, you leave the y sound out, and so get the 
sound wrong. You give long oo instead, quite another and 
different sound. The cure is easy; know what the dictionary 
says and then do it; do it carefully, with the y at the beginning. 

EXERCISE 

Practice these words: 



duke 


lute 


institution 


nuisance 


duty 


Lucy 


constitution 


blue 


tune 


lunatic 


resolutely 


Tuesday 


dubious 


Luke 


absolutely 


enthusiasm 



VOICE 87 

(16) Long oo as in boot. There is a difference between 
long oo and short oo; the difficulty here occurs when people 
will not make this difference and insist on making both into 
short oo. The word roof is not pronounced like cook; nor is 
root, nor soot. They should have the long sound. 

EXERCISE 



Pronounce: 










hoof 


room 


food 


smooth 


true 


soon 


boon 


soot 


root 


roof 



2. The Consonant Sounds 

Just as important as knowing what kind of tone to use and 
how much of it, is knowing how to pronounce the consonants 
correctly and delightfully. We add now to the necessity for 
a relaxed throat the related necessity for an active tongue, 
active lips, jaw, and palate. To make consonants suc- 
cessfully, you need a lively performance of many muscles 
around the mouth. Probably most people are better at 
making consonants than vowels; they do not know how to 
use their throat for Tones, but they know fairly well how to 
use the muscles around the face for the Consonants. Yet — 
and here is the secret — they are lazy; just plain lazy in 
enunciating sounds they know well enough how to make. 

So the problems for most of the class is to wake up tongue, 
lips, palate, and jaw. Most people, if they can get over their 
"oral inactivity," their laziness in sounding their consonants, 
can enunciate fairly well. The major portion of poor enun- 
ciation is mere lazy carelessness. A little attention to busi- 
ness is enough to insure success to the majority. 

Poor enunciation is a sad handicap in business, social life, 
professional pursuits, and certainly in speaking in public or 
in trying to entertain. The best time to attack it and kill it 
is while you are young; if you allow the habit of slouchy 



88 BETTER SPEECH 

enunciation to fasten itself upon you, you are distressed or 
handicapped for life. Many a person is welcomed into the 
best society primarily because of a nice way of uttering words, 
while many another is shut out because of mumbling and 
fumbling, cluttering and muttering. Study your own reac- 
tions to the mouther of words, and see how highly you 
respect the person who talks in a clean-cut, distinct manner; 
then estimate what your chances are in the world if you fail 
to look to your lips, and the other muscles of articulation. 

(a) The Lip Consonants 

The consonants that require active and alert lips are: 
b, f, m, p, v, w, wh. 

The troublesome part of making each of these sounds is 
as follows: 
b. Keep the lips pressed hard enough together until ready 
to give the quick little explosion of wind behind them 
that seems to force them open with the b sound. If 
the pressure is not hard enough and the little explosion 
not quick enough, the sound will be muffed. It can- 
not be done with lazy lips. 
Lip alertness is especially necessary where the b is joined 
with other consonants. 

as br, bl, in words like brown, break, brawn and black, 
bleak, bluster, blow. 

f. The problem here is to keep the upper teeth firm but 
light against the back of the lower lip, pressing air 
from the hardened abdomen and letting just a little 
out, and then letting go with a sudden breathy sound, 
ending in a sound of huh. Beware of letting too much 
air out before the explosion. Combinations with 
other consonants that need attention are: fl, fr; as 

flame, fling, flew, from, frank, fry. 



VOICE 89 

in. This sound is interesting because it needs tone to help 
it out; it is not pure noise; tone plus noise. So of 
course it needs first a hard abdomen; the sound of m 
begins with a rumbling tone that is purely vowel. 
Close the lips lightly, start the tone gently, then 
with a push of the abdomen let the lips pull them- 
selves apart. Following this is always a vowel sound ; 
m is never linked with another consonant. The test 
comes in the alertness of the lips in pressing lightly at 
first, then harder, and finally getting themselves out 
of the way in lively fashion. 
Try words like: may, my, mean, much, moon, mow, man. 

p. Made by a combination of lip pressure and pressure 
from a hard abdomen as in making the b sound; only 
this time the abdominal pressure is considerably 
harder and the ensuing explosion more strenuous. 
It is pure noise. As soon as the explosion comes, the 
P sound links up with the vowel or consonant follow- 
ing. Use a firm abdomen and tight lips. 

(a) Linked with a consonant: pi, pr; as in plan, prove. 

(b) Linked with vowel; pain, power, peel, poor, puny, paltry, 
palm, pin, pet. 

v. This is vocalized, the very beginning of it being a 
rumbling sound made with power furnished by the 
diaphragm, but not from the lower abdomen as in 
6, and p. As soon as the rumble is started, the upper 
teeth meet the back of the lower lip, cause an instant's 
stoppage of the sound, and then let go with a punch 
from the whole abdomen. 

v is always, in English, followed by a vowel: 
Very, vary, vine, vow, view, veal, vote, vest, vast, vaunt. 

w. Another vocalized sound; beginning with an energetic 
pursing of the lips in a way to make the cheeks hollow 



90 BETTER SPEECH 

and the chin drawn far down. As soon as this is done, 
a rumbling tone low down begins from a hard dia- 
phragm. Just as soon as this starts, the lips change 
rapidly and with vigor to the making of the vowel 
sound that always follows. This involves a quick 
stroke from the diaphragm which, along with a pulling 
down of the jaw, pronounces the w sound plus the 
vowel sound that follows after. 
Examples: we, woe, will, wine, way, won't, want, water. 

wh. This is much like the w; the chief difference is in the 
way the breath is controlled. It begins with a 
breathy sound, not vocalized; then turns into a 
vocalized sound made by a vigorous stroke of the 
whole abdomen, resulting in the wh plus the vowel that 
always follows. The sound cannot be made without 
considerable vigor of lips and abdomen. 

Examples: white, when, which, wheat, whoa, what, whey, whee, 
where. 

(6) The Tongue Consonants 

The consonants that require especial activity and alert- 
ness of the Tongue are: d, j, 1, n, r, s, t, y, z. 

d. Harden the abdomen at the same time you press the tip 
of the tongue hard against the roof of the mouth just 
behind the teeth. Pushing hard with the abdomen, 
explode the air out by pushing the tongue from its 
place. A vocal Tone will follow, running immediately 
into the vowel or consonant following or else ending 
the word with a tone like uh. The sound of d at the 
end of a word is a duh, part whisper and part tone. 

Followed by vowels: dare, do, done, did, daw, dough, down, deed, 

dine. 
Followed by a consonant: draw, dwindle, dream, Dwight. 
At the close of a word: cold, bad, hard, knocked, warmed, warned, 

roped, halved, closed. 



VOICE 91 

j. Harden the diaphragm; flatten the tongue against the 
teeth, pressing a little harder toward the front of the 
mouth; use the tongue to block the air until ready for 
the explosion; and at the same time that the tongue 
lets out enough air for a hissing sound make a rumbling 
tone. 

Examples: jay, jeer, giant, joke, June, just, jaunt, jaw, jowl, 
jet, badge, bridge, gesture, large, George, gorge. 

1. Harden the diaphragm and lift it rather high. Press the 
tongue against the hard palate just above the front 
teeth. Make a rumbling tone. Then push with the 
diaphragm and immediately afterwards let the tongue 
break into the I sound and into the vowel sound follow- 
ing. Some people have trouble by making it sound 
like r; their error is in not keeping the tongue forward 
with a sharp point pressing on the gums. 

Examples: lay, lee, lie, lo, lute, loot, law, laugh, last, let, lot. 

n. Harden the abdomen, lightly. Press the tongue against 
the roof of the mouth back of the teeth but not touch- 
ing them. Hold the breath in by checking it in the 
throat — the " glottal stop." Then let go rather 
vigorously in a tone that seems to come from the back 
of the mouth low down. Hold it until you get the 
value of the nasal resonance. 

Examples: name, knee, nice, nose, noose, niece, not, naught, 
noun, noon. 

been, seen, given, broaden, token, fallen, open, learn, 
risen. 

qu. Harden the diaphragm, high up and lightly. Close the 
palate. Make the face into a long line up and down, 
lips pursed round and barely open. Explode the qu 
part immediately into the following vowel sound. 



92 BETTER SPEECH 

Examples: quake, queer, quiet, quack, squash, quick, quote, quest. 

r. A troublesome sound; with disagreement as to how it 
ought to be pronounced. It must be considered in 
different aspects: 

(a) At the beginning of the word or syllable: 

Harden the diaphragm and fill the lungs high up by means 
of the chest muscles. Use the glottal stop to hold the breath 
in the throat, checking it low down at the larynx. Draw the 
whole tongue back in the mouth without especial strain. 
Let the jaw drop enough to get the mouth really open. Then 
open the throat with a light rumble, breaking into the vowel 
sound that follows. 

Examples: race, right, row, root, run, ran, rice, reel, ring, wrong. 

This use of r causes no particular difference of opinion. 

(b) At the end of a word or syllable : 

In this case it always follows a vowel sound; so it is ap- 
proached with the mouth set for the vowel; notice the 
difference in jaw action between dear and door and dare. 
The chief thing to do is to — end the word or syllable. Two 
ways are used: one, with the same sound as the r at the 
beginning of a word, as in run; the other with a sound that 
can best be written out as ah. So that here is he-ah, there 
is theh-ah, car is ca-ah, sir is suh-ah, bore is bo-ah, bear is 
beh-ah. 

You make take your choice of these two ways of pro- 
nouncing the final r; each has staunch and loyal defenders 
and advocates. Which is right, is left to your own judgment. 
Use the former in the Middle West the latter in the East and 
South and you will attract no undue attention to your diction. 

(c) r before another consonant. 

This follows the rule of r final; you either sound it as you 
do in run, or you let it fade into an ah sound. As in earn, 
burn, farm, born, Berlin, servant. 



VOICE 93 

Again you have a right to choose as you please; standard 
usage of this sound in America is in the making. In Rome do 
not be too unlike the Romans, is a good rule for this sound. 

(d) r preceding a vowel within a word of two or more 
syllables; as in glory, era, very, oriole. 

You will notice that each of these begins the syllable in 
which it stands. Hence it takes the same sound as in run; 
all over the country. 

(e) When two r's come together within a word, as in errand, 
barracks, ferret. 

Note that one ends a syllable and the other begins one. 
Then simply follow your rule for the use of r at the beginning 
or the end. The second r in these cases, the one that begins 
a syllable, is pronounced the same the country over. The 
first, the one that ends the first syllable, is pronounced the 
way you .please, according to what usage you follow. 

(f ) r sound at end of a word ending in a vowel: 

Maybe we should make place for a use of r noticeable in 
most parts of the nation; the introduction of the same sound 
as in run but at the end of a word ending in a vowel; as 
idea (r), pore (for paw), lore (law), Annar (Anna). The people 
who use this insist that it is right; and on this point usage is — 
what you will. 

s. Press the teeth together; pull the lips back from the 
teeth; hold the tongue flattened out just back of the 
teeth but not touching them. Then push lightly with 
the diaphragm and make the air go out between the up- 
per front teeth. Be sure to hold the tongue so it will 
force the air out between the two front teeth, not 
through the teeth clear across the front of the mouth. 
That produces sh, a very different sound. 

Examples: salt, same, son, soon, seed, sallow, supine, soup, soul, 
saw, shall, short, shear, shine, show, shoe, shower, shell. 

t. Press the tip of the tongue against the hard palate just 



94 BETTER SPEECH 

back of the teeth. Harden the diaphragm and the 
chest. Let the tongue go and so cause a slight explo- 
sion, breaking out in the vowel sound following, or 
else in the sound of r or w. 

Examples: time, too, tell, tale, tune, town, team, ton, tall, tap, tar, 
train, truth, twist, twine. 

y. Begin by making the sound ee, with a moderate pressure 
from the whole abdomen, and with the tongue spread 
out flat, the lips apart, and the tip of the tongue 
pressed against the inside of the lower front teeth. 
Then pull the tongue back energetically and push 
with the diaphragm, launching into the vowel that 
follows. 

Examples: yet, yacht, yeast, yoke, York, yowl, yea, yule. 

z. Harden the chest and diaphragm lightly. Place the 
teeth together. Bring the tongue down almost to the 
teeth but not touching them; pull the lips back sidewise. 
Then begin hissing and rumbling at the same time, 
keeping the teeth together to add to the buzzing effect. 

Examples: zeal, buzz, puzzle, zest, dizzy, fuzz, business, visible, 
is, lose. 

ch. Harden the whole breathing apparatus, from the 
abdomen to the top of the chest. Press the teeth 
together lightly. Spread the tongue out and press it 
against the teeth all the way around the semicircle. 
Then by a vigorous pressure of the abdomen force 
the air past the tongue; at the same time pull the 
teeth apart. 

Examples: chest, cheat, breach, breech, birch, chew, china, change. 

th. This combinatiou of letters has two sounds; as in thin 
and as in there. 



VOICE 95 

(a) th as in thin: 

Harden the abdomen low down. Bring the tip of the tongue 
out through the teeth. As soon as the abdomen is hardened 
and the tongue in place, begin pressing air out past the tongue. 
Then go on with the vowel following, or, when at the end of 
a word, pull the tongue back and give a whispered uh. 

Examples: thick, thought, thrust, throw, think, thumb, faith, both, 
forth, fifth, depth. 

(b) th as in there: 

Harden the abdomen in the same way as above. Place the 
tongue in the same position between the teeth. But at 
the very instant of putting the tongue in this position, start 
making a rumbling tone, and break into the vowel sound 
that follows or else end the word with a continuing of the 
rumble. 

Examples: thine, wreathe, writhe, thither, whither, three, the. 

(c) The Palate Consonants 

The consonants that are made by the aid of the palate are 
k, hard g, and x. 

k. Close the palate and harden the abdomen, both at the 
same time. Draw the teeth well apart, harden the 
tongue and keep it in the center of the mouth cavity. 
Then let go with the palate and allow the hardened 
diaphragm to push the sound out, going immediately 
into the vowel or consonant following. 

Examples: cat, cow, keel, cut, case, etiquette, kite, cone, cute, 
lacks, ducks, duct, baked, leaked. 

g. The hard sound of g, as in go, begins with a hard abdomen, 
low down. At the same time close the palate as in 
making k, but with the mouth more nearly closed. 
Then at the moment of letting go with the palate and 
of pushing with the diaphragm, make a rumbling tone. 



96 BETTER SPEECH 

Examples: grunt, grand, got, gather, get, gain, gone, gall, gout. 

x. This is made like ks; 

Examples: box, excell, next, accept, fix, buxom. 

When End and Beginning Meet 

A special use of consonants must be studied: when one 
word ends with a consonant that begins the word following; 
as, "ten nice silver wrist timepieces.' ' A special rule is needed 
for this situation. Some people, in their desire to be very 
accurate and distinct, would say ten, and then nice. The 
rule would not have so it; the thing to say is in reality, 
tennice, nicesilver, silverrist, wristtimepieces. In other words, 
in these cases do not drop one sound before taking up the 
other; hold the end sound a little longer and make it do for 
two. 

Examples: main number, dumb mouths, recent trial, rear room, 
black cat, best time, bad day, dull light. 

Good Articulation is a Matter of Wide-spread Alertness. 
By all means do not make the mistake of thinking that be- 
cause some consonants are called lip consonants and tongue 
consonants and others palatal consonants, that the mak- 
ing of the consonant is done in a small part of the speaking 
apparatus. Quite the contrary, distinctness and clear enun- 
ciation are dependent upon the whole speaking apparatus. If 
you are not alert and vigorous from the very bottom of the 
abdomen up through the diaphragm and the chest and to the 
tip of your tongue and the whole of your cheeks and lips and 
jaw, there is little chance that you will talk distinctly and 
pleasingly. You must be awake all over; it is even an advan- 
tage to be alive in the legs and back while trying to articulate 
well. It all helps. Speaking is an all-over process always, so 
being awake all over helps articulation. 



VOICE 



97 



III. VOICE AND WORDS 

A. Pronunciation 

Following the Dictionary. Next to laziness as a cause for 
improper use of words in speech, is not knowing what the 
dictionary says. Many words are mispronounced every day 
by thousands who ought to know what is right and then 
correct their mistakes. Where there is a will there is a way, 
and it pays to find the way. So look the following words up 
in the dictionary and practice giving them the right dic- 
tionary pronunciation: 

LIST FOR CORRECT PRONUNCIATION 



abdomen 


ay or aye (always) 


courier 


abject 


bestial 


creek 


aborigines 


biography 


crises 


absent (adj.) 


biology 


data 


absent (v.) 


blessed (adj.) 


deceased 


abstract (n. & adj.) 


blue 


decorum 


abstract (v.) 


bona fide 


deficit 


accent (n.) 


bouquet 


desert (v.) 


accent (v.) 


burst 


desert (adj.) 


accented 


cello 


dessert 


accurate 


chaos 


detour 


acoustics 


chaperon 


dew 


admirable 


chef 


discern 


adult 


children 


discharge 


aerial 


choir 


discourse 


aeroplane 


cleanly (adj.) 


discretion 


aged (adj.) 


cleanly (adv.) 


domain 


ally 


clematis 


drama 


architect 


clique 


drowned 


arctic 


cloths 


encore 


armistice 


comely 


engine 


athlete 


commandant 


en masse 


automobile 


comparable 


ennui 


army 


contrast (v.) 


envelop (v.) 


ay or aye (yes) 


contractor 


envelope (n.) 



98 



BETTER SPEECH 



etiquette 


indict 


reparable 


exit 


indisputable 


research 


exeunt 


infamous 


romance 


exhale 


inquiry 


route 


exhaust 


issue 


salmon 


exhort 


kerosene 


salt 


extempore 


learned (adj.) 


salve 


extraordinary- 


lenient 


satire 


finance 


literature 


satyr 


financier 


long-lived 


says 


forbade 


magazine 


sumac 


forehead 


margarine 


spectator 


forest 


mayoralty 


spherical 


frequent (v.) 


mediseval 


spheroid 


gauge 


mischievous 


status quo 


gesture 


none 


statute 


goal 


nota bene 


stratum 


golf 


nude 


student 


granary 


nuisance 


suit 


gratis 


oasis 


suite 


grievous 


onion 


supple 


grimace 


opportunity 


syrup 


gyrate 


pantomime 


the 


handkerchief 


peony 


thresh 


hearth 


parliamentary 


tour 


herculean 


phonograph 


toward 


hideous 


plague 


tribune 


hospitable 


poem 


tune 


humble 


preface 


tutor 


humor 


pretty 


vagary 


hyprocrisy 


preventive 


violin 


idea 


radish 


viva voce 


impious 


really 


water 


increase (n.) 


recess 


yacht 


increase (v.) 


refuse (n.) 





VOICE 



99 



PRONUNCIATION * OF PROPER NAMES FROM ENGLISH 
LITERATURE AND THE CLASSICS 



Achseans — a-ke'-ans 
Achilles — a-kil'-ez 
iEneas — e-ne'-as 
^Eolus — e'-o-lus 
Agamemnon — ag-a-mem'-non 
Agrippa — a-grip'-a 
Aguecheeck— a'-gu-chek 
Aix — as or aks 
Alcinous — al-sm'-o-tis 
Alhambra — al-ham'-bra 
Ali— a'-le 

Amiens — a'-me-enz or a-me-ai 
Anchises — an-ki'-sez 
Andromache — an-dr5m'-a-ka 
Antony — an'-to-ni 
Aphrodite — af-ro-di'-te 
Apollyon — a-pol'-yim 
Ariel — a'-ri-el 
Armada — ar-ma'-da 
Astolat — as'-to-lat 
Athelstane — ath'-el-stan 
Athene — a-the'-ne 
Atreus — a'-troos 
Audrey — a'-dri 
Aufidius — a-fid'-i-us 
Aumerle — o'-merl 
Avilion — a-vil'-i-on 
Avon — a'-von 
Aylmer — Il'-mtir 
Aymer — a'-mer 
Ayr — ar 

Ayrshire — ar'-shir 
Bagot — bag'-5t 
Balder — bal'-der 
Ballantrae — bal-an-tra' 
Balthasar — bal'-tha-zar 



B anquo — ban'-kwo 
Basil— ba/-zil or bas'-il 
Bassanio — bas-san'-i-o 
Bastille — bas-tel' 
Beauvais — bo-va' 
Bede — bed 
Bedivere — bed'-i-ver 
Belvidere — bel-vi-der' 
Benbow — ben'-bo 
Benledi — ben-le'-di 
Benvenue — ben-ven'-fi 
Benvolio — ben-vo'-H-o 
Berkeley — ber'-kli or bar'-kli 
Bewick — bii'-ik 
Blount — blunt 
Bois Guilbert — bwa-gil-ber' 
Brian — bri'-an 
Briseis — brl-se'-tis 
Brobdingnag — brob'-dmg-nag 
Buena Vista — bwe'-na vis'-ta 
Cadiz — ka'-diz 
Caius — ka'-yiis 
Calchas — kal'-kas 
Caliban — kal'-i-ban 
Calpurnia — kal-pur'-ni-a 
Calypso — ka-lip'-so 
Camelot — kam'-e-lot 
Capulet — kap'-u-let 
Carlyle — kar-lll' 
Carton — kar'-tun 
Casca — kas'-ka 
Cassius — kash'-i-tis 
Catesby — kats'-bi 
Cedric — ked'-ric or sed'-rik 
Celia — sel'-ya 
Cerberus — ser'-ber-us 



♦The markings are those used in Webster's Dictionary. 



100 



BETTER SPEECH 



Ceres — se'-rez 
Charon — ka'-rSn 
Charybdis — ka-rib'-dis 
Chatillon — sha-te-y5N' 
Chelsea — cheT-se 
Chevy — shev-i' 
Cheyne — cha/-ne 
Chillon— she-yoN' 
Chinggachgook — chln-g&ch'- 

gook 
Cicero — sis'-e-ro 
Cimber — sim'-ber 
Cinna — sin'-na 
Circe — sfr'-se 
Claudius — kla'-dl-us 
Cceur-de-Lion — kor-da-le-5N' 
Coleridge — kol'-rij 
Comus — ko'-mus 
Coriolanus — ko-n-o-la'-nus 
Covent — ko'-vent 
Coventry — ktiv'-en-tri 
Coverly — kuv'-er-li 
Cowper — koo'-per or koti'-per 
Crevecceur — krav-kur' 
Curio — kti'-ri-o 
Cyclops — sl'-klSps 
Cyclopes — sl-klo'-pes 
Cyril— sir'-il 
Dante — dan'-ta 
Decius — de'-shi-us 
Defarge — de-farzh' 
Demetrius — de-me'-tri-us 
Denys — den'-is 
Dhu — dob 
Diana — dl-an'-a 
Dido— dl'-do 
Diomedes — di-5m'-e-des 
Domremy — ddN-ra-me' 
Donalbain — dSn'-al-ban 
Dunois — doon'-wa 
Dunsinane — dun-sm-an' 



Durham — dur'-am 
Ecclefechan — ek'-l-fek-an 
Egeus — e'-joos 
Elaine — e-lan' 
Elia— e'-H-a 
Elias — e-ll'-as 
Eumaeus — yoo-me'-tis 
Euryalus — yod-rl'-a-lus 
Eurycleia — yoo-ri-kll'-a 
Eurylochus — yoo-ril'-a-kus 
Eustace — y 60s '-tas 
Evangeline — e-van'-ga-lin 
Fabian — fa'-bi-an 
Falconbridge — fa'-kon-brlj 
Fernandez — fer-nan'-deth 
Flavius — fla'-vi-us 
Fleance — fle'-ans 
Forres — for'-es 
Fortinbras — for'-tm-bras 
Front-de-Bceuf — froN-da-buf 
Galahad — gal'-a-had 
Gareth — ga'-reth 
Gawain — ga'-wan 
Gerard — jer-ard' 
Ghent — gent 
Giles — jilz 

Giovanni — j o-van'-nl 
Gloucester — glos'-ter 
Gonzalo — gon-za'-lo 
Gorboduc — g5r-bo'-duk 
Gower — gow'-er 
Granpre — graN-pra' 
Gratiano — gra-she-an'-o 
Gudrun — good'-run 
Guildernstern — gil'-dern-stern 
Guinevere — gwin'-a-vere 
Haman — ha'-man 
Hecuba — hek'-u-ba 
Hejira — hej'-i-ra or he-ji'-ra 
Helena — heT-en-a 
Hephaestus — he-fes'-ttis 



VOICE 



101 



Hereford — her'-a-f5rd 
Hereward — her'-a-ward 
Hermes — her'-mez 
Herve Riel — her-va-re-el' 
Hiawatha — hl-a-wa'-tha 
Hippolita — hip-pSl'-i-ta 
Horatio — ho-ra '-sho 
II Penseroso — Il-pen-ser-o'-so 
Iroquois — ir'-o-kwSi 
Islam — Iz'-lam 
Jacques — zhak 
Jaques — j a'-ques 
Joan-of-Arc — j on-uv-ark' 
Joris — jo'ris. 
Juliet — joo'-li-et 
Katrine — kat'-rin 
Koran — ko'-ran or k5-ran' 
Kubla Khan — koob'-la kan' 
Lacedemon — las-a-de'-mSn 
Laertes — la-er'-tes 
L' Allegro — lal-e'-gro 
Lancelot — lan'-se-lSt 
Laocoon — la-5k'-o-Sn 
Latium — la'-shi-um 
Launfal — lan'-fal 
Le Beau — la-bo' 
Leigh — le 
Lewes — lu'-es 
Ligarius — lig-ar'-i-us 
Lilliput — lil'-I-ptit 
Lilliputians — lil-i-pu'-shi-uns 
Loch — 16k 

Lo chinvar — lSk-in- var ' 
Lucius — lu'-shus 
Lycidas — lis'-i-das 
Lynette — lm-et' 
Lyonesse — ll-o-nes' 
Lysander — H-san'-der 
Mahomet — ma-hSm'-et 
Malvolio — mal-vo'-li-o 
Mantua — man'-chod-a 



Maria — ma-rl'-a 

Marmion — mar'-mi-Sn 

Marquis — mar'-kwis 

Marquise — mar-kez' 

Medina — ma-de'-na 

Menelaus — men-e-la'-us 

Mercutio — mer-ku'-she-o 

Micawber — mi-ka'-ber 

Miranda — mi-ran'-da 

Mnestheus — nes'-the-us 

Mohammed — mo-ham'-ed 

Mohican — m5-hek'-an 

Montague — m5n'-tag-u 

Morte d'Arthur — mort-dar'-thur 

Mobray — mo'-bra 

Mycenae — mi-sen'-e 

Naseby — naz'-bi 

Nausicaa — na-sik'-a-a 

Nerissa — ne-ris'-sa 

Oberon — ob'-er-5n 

Odin — o'-din 

Odysseus — o-dis'-oos 

Ogygia— o-jij'-i-a 

Orestes — o-res'-tes 

Orsino — 6r-sen'-o 

Osric — Sz'-rik 

Oxus — Sks'-us 

Penelope — pen-eT-o-pe" 

Phaeacia — fe-a'-ci-a 

Phoebe— fe'-be 

Pierre — pe-er' 

Polonius — p5-lo'-ni-us 

Polyphemus — p6l-i-fe'-mus 

Porsena — por'-s£-na 

Portia — por'-she-a 

Poseidon — po-sl'-dim 

Priam — pri'-am 

Prometheus — pro-me'-thus 

Proteus — pro'-te-us 

Psyche — si'-ke 

Publius— pub'-li-iis 



102 



BETTER SPEECH 



Pyramus — pir'-a-miis 

Ratisbon — rat'-is-bSn 

Regillius — re-j Il'-i-tis 

Remus — re'-mus 

Reynaldo — ra-nal'-do 

Roland — ro'-land 

Romeo — ro'-mS-o 

Romulus — rSm'-u-lus 

Rosalind — rSs'-a-lmd 

Rowena — ro-e'-na 

Rowland de Boys — ro'-land da- 

bwa' 
Rustum — roos'-tum 
Sabrina — sa-brl'-na 
Saladin — sal'-a-din 
Salanio — sal-an'-i-o 
Salarino — sa-la-ren'-o 
Salisbury — salz'-ber-I 
Samarcand — sam-ar-kand' 
San Diego — san-de-a'-go 
San Juan — san-wan' 
Saracens — sar'-a-senz 
Scylla— sfl'-a 
Sebastian — se-bas'-chtin 
Seyton — sa'-tun 
Sybil— sib'-tt 
Siward — se'-ward 
Sohrab — so-rab' 
Steerforth— ster'-furth 
Stephano — stef'-a-no 
Strato — strat'-o 
Stygian — stij '-i-an 



Styx — stix 
Tarquin — tar'-kwm 
Telemachus — te-lem '-a-kus 
Theseus — the'-soos or the'-se-tis 
Thetis— the'-tis 
Thisbe— thiz'-be 
Thor— th6r 
Thyrsis — ther'-sis 
Tiber— ti'-ber 
Tintagil — t m'-ta-j ll 
Titania — ti-tan'-i-a 
Torquemada — tor-kwe-ma'-tha 
Toussaint l'Ouverture — too-saN' 

loo-ver-ttir 
Trafalgar — tra-fal'-gar 
Trin-cu-lo — trin'-k u-lo 
Tubal— tu'-bal 
Tybalt— tib'-alt 
Ulysses — fi-lis'-ses 
Uncas — ting'-kas 
Uther — u'-ther 
Valhalla — val-hal'-a 
Van Eyck — van-Ik' 
Vaughan — van 
Vaux — vo 

Vauxhall — v6ks-h all' 
Viola — vi-6'-la or vl'-o-la 
Warwick — war'-Ik 
Warwickshire — war'-Ik-shlr 
Wolsey — wool'-zl 
Yorick — y6r'-Ik 



B. Articulation 

When you can pronounce the various consonants and 
vowel sounds correctly, you have solved much of the 
problem of correct pronunciation and enunciation; but not 
all by considerable, for the reason that the chief cause 
of poor articulation is laziness, oral inactivity, haste, un- 



VOICE 



103 



concern. The best cure for these ills is practice; drill; 
hard work. 

EXERCISE 

Work on the following list of words until you can pro- 
nounce them all neatly and accurately: 



width 


financially 


unexpectedly 


fault 


fratricidal 


imperturbably 


cold 


indefatigable 


grandiloquently 


grasp 


deplorably 


ponderousness 


scythe 


abominably 


evaluation 


hulk 


artistically 


irreproachable 


film 


apocrypha 


consanguineous 


link 


advertisement 


consanguinity 


scalp 


congratulatory 


virtuosity 


didst 


authoritatively 


parabolical 


mustn't 


angularly 


paralellogram 


canst 


indissolubly 


paranoiac 


doubled 


extraordinarily 


parenthetically 


strengthened 


parliamentarily 


pathological 


saddled 


momentous 


pathetic 


guard'st 


grievously 


paleontology 


arm'st 


innumerably 


hyperbolical 


scorn'dst 


disingenuousness 


hypothetical 


daredst 


incontrovertible 


superabundant 


dropped 


disinterestedly 


perambulate 


maimed 


simultaneously 


prognosticate 


claimed 


lamentably 


unidentifiable 


brightened 


pyramidal 


undistributable 


scratch'dst 


simultaneity 


ingratiatingly 



EXERCISE 

Practice the following to gain precision and accuracy of 
pronunciation: 

1. Bring me some ice, not some mice. 

2. The sea ceaseth and sufficeth us. 

3. Suddenly seaward swept the squall. 

4. He saws six long, slim, sleek, slender saplings. 

5. Amos Ames, the amiable aeronaut, aided in an aerial enter- 
prise at the age of eighty-eight. 



f 



104 BETTER SPEECH 

6. She sells sea shells; shall Susan sell sea shells? 

7. Six thick thistle sticks; six thick thistles stick. 

8. A big black bug bit a big black bear. 

9. Amidst the mists and coldest frosts, 
With stoutest hearts and loudest boasts, 
He thrusts his fists against the posts, 
And still insists he sees the ghosts. 

10. He rejoiceth, approacheth, accepteth, ceaseth. 

11. A blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare. 
A buff trip slip for a six-cent fare. 

A pink trip slip for a three-cent fare. 

12. Geese cackle, cattle low, crows caw, cocks crow. 

13. An analogy of another art is as effective as is ours. 

14. What whim led White Whitney to whittle, whistle, whisper, 
and whimper near the wharf, where a floundering whale 
might wheel and whirl? 

IV. THE VOICE AND SENTENCE MEANING 
Oral Expression 

Say aloud the sentence: 

"Life is a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two 
eternities." 

You can pronounce all the words? You know what they 
mean, each by itself? Very good; but even if you are sure 
you know what the words mean and then if you have taken 
pains to pronounce them accurately, have you carried the 
meaning of the sentence? Not necessarily so at all. You may 
be able to pass a quiz on the meanings of words and pro- 
nounce them just as the dictionary says you should, and still 
not say at all what you want to, or even what you think you 
say. 

Say this sentence aloud : 
Yes, indeed, they will be delighted to see you. 

You know all those words, and you can pronounce every 
one without a miss. But as you read it, what does it mean? 



VOICE 105 

First, has it only one meaning as said aloud? Look it over 
and see how many meanings you can read into it. Let us 
specify a few; according to the tone of voice that is used on it 
or the emphasis put upon certain words, it can mean any of 
the following: 

1. Beyond doubt they will be glad to see you. (Positively.) 

2. I think they will greet you cordially, but I will promise nothing 

beyond that. (Use a dull and almost tired voice.) 

3. Whatever anyone else feels, they — the ones I have been talking 

about — will give you a genuinely cordial reception. (Place 
emphasis upon the word they.) 

4. Despite your denial I insist that they are sure to greet you 

cordially. (Place emphasis upon sure.) 

5. You thought they would be bored to see you; oh, no, they will 

be delighted. (Use a circumflex accent — a slide up and then 
down, as A — on delighted.) 

6. No they may not care to hear you, but they will be pleased at 

what they see. (Emphasize see.) 

7. I am not at all sure how they feel about seeing others, but as 

to seeing you, there is no question, they will be delighted. 
(Emphasize you.) 

8. They are hoping they will never see you again, and will be 

disgusted if you appear in their sight. (Use an ironical tone 
all the way through the sentence.) 

9. Whatever they may feel about seeing others, they are especially 

anxious not to miss you. (Put the circumflex on you.) 
10. Oh, yes, you are most surely right; they will be very glad to see 
you. (Put the circumflex on indeed. This implies that the 
"you" person of this sentence understands that he will be 
welcome and the person uttering the sentence confirms the 
opinion most heartily.) 

Now we have ten legitimate and common meanings to be 
drawn from one simple sentence. Others could be given. 
Every possible sentence is likewise capable of many meanings. 
So simple a statement as "I am here" can have at least ten 
meanings. 



106 BETTER SPEECH 

EXERCISE 

Utter it aloud to express these ten meanings 

1. / am here. (I have come.) 

2. I am here. (Though it's hard to believe it.) 

3. I am here. (Thank Heaven!) 

4. No matter who else has come, I have arrived. 

5. Despite your denial, here I am; see for yourself. 

6. No, I am not where you say I am, I am right here. 

7. All right, this is I ; make the worst of it ; punish me as you will. 

8. Well what are you going to do about it; I am the man you 

are looking for. 

9. Let them deny it to the end of time, here I am; look at me. 
10. Yes, I have come back; oh, take pity on me! 

If this is possible with a sentence of three words, what are 
the possibilities of long sentences with involved constructions 
and words of many syllables and meanings? 

Now go back to the sentence: 

"Life is a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two 
eternities. " 

What does it mean? Is it a definition of life? If it is, it is 
entirely unconvincing, is it not? Then it must be something 
more than definition; and if so, what is it? Well, it very evi- 
dently is a figure of speech and means something besides the 
literal statement. Translated it seems to mean: "Life is 
but short, very much hemmed in, and rather a sad place at 
best." Can you speak it to give it this meaning, and so it 
will not sound like a definition? 

Take the same point from another angle. Say this out 
loud: 

"How sweet the moonbeam sleeps upon this bank!" 

Suppose some man with a rough, gruff voice reads it all on 
one level of voice; what does he really say to a listener? 
Well, he just about says: "What a bore it is to have to talk 



VOICE 107 

about moonbeams! " You have heard boys read poetry just 
that way. 

Take another case; the sentence to be said aloud is: 

"Sir, leave this room at once." 

A frail girl afraid to call her soul her own is saying it. She 
is apologetic, light-voiced, shy. What she succeeds in saying 
is, in reality, " Maybe it would be nice of you if you would be 
so kind as to go; just maybe." 

Any way we take it we find that what is written on the 
printed page can have all sorts of meanings when spoken. 
We find that even though when speaking we use words ac- 
cording to their dictionary meanings and pronunciations, 
still people do not seem to get what we have on our minds; 
for the reason that we do not really say what we mean when 
we put these words together into sentence meanings. 

So it is plain enough to be seen that word meanings and 
sentence meanings are two entirely different things. They 
must be studied each by itself. The one that needs consid- 
ering first is the matter of sentence meanings, because people 
with a large vocabulary of mere words all too often cannot 
weld them into sentence meanings. Every boy or girl study- 
ing this book is "full of words " ; yet only a few of you can do 
what you ought to do in uttering the sense of sentences 
aloud. The average pupil, if he is, say, 80% perfect in use 
and choice of words, is about 40% in ability to put them into 
sentences and to say them aloud with the exact meaning 
intended. So you will all undoubtedly make the greatest 
gain by studying how to speak sentence meanings first. 

Repetition of the Thought as a Test of Getting the Meaning. 
Utter this aloud: 

"If a well were sunk at our feet in the midst of the city of 
Norwich, the diggers would very soon find themselves at 
work in that white substance, almost too soft to be called 
rock, with which we are all familiar as ' chalk.' " 



108 BETTER SPEECH 

What is the most important test here of your speaking? 
In this case it is surely the matter of making clear what you 
are talking about. The best test would be this: Can your 
listener repeat after you the substance of what you said? Did 
he get your idea? Has he the facts involved in the statement? 
If you quiz him as to what it was about, and he says, "Well, 
some men were digging and found a rock called chalk," 
evidently there are some facts he did not get. If he replies, 
"Wells in Norfolk are filled with chalk," again he would miss 
the fact part of your meaning. Yet people make answers 
just as wild after hearing sentences like that read aloud. At 
that they tell what they got. So, evidently, if listeners get 
only a part of what is said, there is something wrong with 
the reading or speaking. 

V. ANALYSIS OF SENTENCE MEANING 

But carrying the facts is not enough; there is somethiug 
else. Read this statement aloud: 

" Sydney Smith says of Lord John Russell's five feet in 
stature, that when Russell went down to Yorkshire after 
the Reform Bill had passed, the stalwart hunters of Yorkshire 
exclaimed, 'What! that little shrimp, he carry the Reform 
Bill through!' 'No, no,' said Smith, 'he used to be a large 
man, but he worked so hard on the bill that it shrunk him! ' " 

What are you going to do if somebody asks you to report 
on the facts named in this statement? Are you going to tell 
that hard work actually shrunk a large man down to five 
feet? Then can a person telling this story tell it "straight," 
with a perfectly matter-of-fact manner? Obviously not. 
Then what must he do? Well, he must do what we commonly 
call "giving it the right expression," "saying it expressively," 
"putting the right feeling into it." And that is what he does. 
In other words, He shows how he feels about what he is saying. 

No matter what you say, the way you say it shows how you 



VOICE 109 

feel. You cannot even say "Two plus two is four" without 
letting a listener know what you think of the matter. 
Mostly people would utter that as if they didn 't care much, 
revealing an attitude of indifference, boredom, or casual 
unconcern, disclosed by a certain way of saying it. But men 
have been known to be much excited about the same sen- 
tence, insisting with heat that "Two plus two IS four"; 
meaning that "it must be, has always been, must always be 
so, and if any man doubts it he is a fool." By the way you 
utter any sentence you show how you feel about it. The 
story about Lord John Russell is foolishness unless it is said 
in just the right way, with just the right disclosure of atti- 
tude, how you feel about the whole thing. 
Say this aloud: 

' ' Under the wide and starry sky, 
Dig the grave and let me lie. 
Glad did I live and gladly die, 
And I laid me down with a will." 

If you speak that so that the listener understands only 
what you are talking about, you cause him to miss the chief 
point of the whole stanza. The reading must show how the 
reader feels about it. If you read this in the wrong attitude, 
it sounds more or less foolish; but if you read it to show one 
proper frame of mind, then it is rich and meaningful. 

Take even a more striking case; if the following be uttered 
in a matter-of-fact way, like telling about digging wells and 
finding chalk, you get almost a form of nonsense; but if it is 
said in a way to make the attitude clear, then you get a passage 
of the world's greatest literature: 

What should I say to you? Should I not say, 
"Hath a dog money? Is it possible 
A cur can lend three thousand ducats?" or 
Shall I bend low and in a bondman's key, 
With bated breath and whispering humbleness 



110 BETTER SPEECH 

Say this, — 

"Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last; 
You spurned me such a day; another time 
You called me dog; and for these courtesies 
I'll lend you thus much moneys ?" 

Or this, where William Tell is addressing his beloved moun- 
tains: 

"Ye crags and peaks, I'm with you once again! 

I hold to you the hands you first beheld 

To show they still are free!" 

Two Main Problems in Carrying the Meaning of Sentences. 
Thus if you wish to talk well and interestingly, there are 
two problems you have to face: (1) Showing how you feel, 
and (2) Making clear what you are talking about. 

Of these which is the more important? Neither; they are 
equally important. But what people want to know about 
you first is what mood you are in; whether you are in earnest 
or joking, angry or happy, uplifted or depressed, interested 
or bored, awake or half asleep, merely going through the 
motions of speaking or speaking as if you meant it, just 
reciting something or really telling what is on your mind. 
The instant you break into speech they can tell what mood 
you are in, how you feel, what is agitating you. So we take 
up the matter of Attitude first. 

C. Revealing the Speaker's Attitude: Expressiveness 

Here we go back to what we have already talked about 
under the subject of Tone; it is in the matter of Attitude 
that Tone is important. A rough voice means one attitude, 
a soft voice another, a loud voice something quite different 
from a quiet one. And this is the sort of thing people can 
understand even without words and sentences; growls, shouts, 
cries, squeals, cooings, snarls, gurglings. Such sounds always 
show attitude. When they are used in saying words and 



VOICE 111 

sentences, then attitude is made very clear and unmis- 
takable. Uttered by themselves they are unmistakable; 
a wailing cry always means one thing to all people, so a 
growl, or a grunt. Tones by themselves carry attitudes. 

But we cannot say very much by cooing and snarling; to 
carry on talk we must use words. And it is in the adding of 
words to these elemental attitudes that so many people 
speak poorly and read poorly. They do not make the words 
and tone of voice fit together. Boys often use the language 
of politeness — their " pleases" and "thank you's" — with 
about the same tone of voice that they use on the football 
field when they say, "Here, what d'ye mean by letting that 
man get around your end ! " " Nail him ! " " Hit him hard ! ' ' 
And the two things, words and tone, do not fit. 

1. By Using the Right Kind of Tone 

1. Making Language and Kind of Tone Fit Together. The 
beginning of effective speaking is in making the language of a 
sentence fit the tone that shows the speaker's state of mind. 
If your words are vigorous, then the tone must be vigorous 
too; if calm, then calm Tones. 

Here we use again what was said about Kind of Tone and 
Strength of Tone. 

Speak the following passage with a solemn voice (Orotund 
Tone) : 

"The day is cold and dark and dreary; 
It rains, and the wind is never weary; 
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall, 
But at every gust the dead leaves fall, 
And the day is dark and dreary." 

To appreciate the need of getting the right Tone to show 
how you feel, just read it in a light, happy tone (Oral Tone) : 
it will not mean what you want it to mean. 



112 BETTER SPEECH 

Now read this passage with a light, happy Tone: 

" the South and the Sun! 
How each loved the other one — 
Full of fancy, full of folly, 
Full of jollity and fun! 
How they romped and ran about, 
Like two boys when school is out, 
With glowing face and lisping lip, 
Low laugh and lifted shout!" 

This read in a solemn tone or a tone that indicates that 
you do not care one way or the other about it, makes little 
sense. 

Say the following thoughts in a serious, earnest, purpose- 
ful Tone of voice (Strong Orotund) : 

^Minority! If a man stand up for the right, though the right 
be on the scaffold, while the wrong sits in the seat of government; 
if he stands for the right, though he eat, with the right and truth, 
a wretched crust; if he walk with obloquy and scorn in the by-lanes 
and streets, while falsehood and wrong ruffle it in silken attire — 
let him remember that wherever the right and truth are, there are 
always troops of tall ministering angels gathering around him, and 
God himself stands within the dim future and keeps watch over his 
own!" 

2. By Strength of Voice 

Making Language and Strength of Tone Fit Together. Next 
after the Kind of Tone comes Strength of Voice, in showing 
how you feel. Shouting always makes people think one is 
much worked up; speaking calmly in a whisper makes 
people think one is not greatly excited. 

Note how much the Strength of Voice has to do with the 
following sentences; speak in a gentle voice: 

"We watched her breathing through the night, 

Her breathing soft and low, 
As in her breast the wave of life 

Kept heaving to and fro. 



VOICE 113 

So silently we seemed to speak, 

So slowly moved about, 
As we had lent her half our powers 

To eke her living out." 

Give the following passage a medium degree of Strength: 

"Roll back the tide of eighteen hundred years. At the foot of 
vine-clad Vesuvius stands a royal city. The stately Roman walks 
its lordly streets or banquets in the palaces of its splendors. The 
bustle of busied thousands is there; you may hear it along the 
thronged quays; it rises from the amphitheatre and the forum. It 
is the home of luxury, gaiety, and of joy. It is a careless, a dreaming, 
a devoted city." 

Speak the following passage in a strong, loud voice. Re- 
member that it is supposed to be the address of the com- 
manding officer of the American forces at the Battle of 
Bunker Hill; his men are hesitating, and he directs their at- 
tention to the hired British troops ready to attack them. 

"Stand, the ground's your own, my braves! 
Will ye give it up to slaves? 
Will ye look for greener graves? 

Hope ye mercy still? 
What's the mercy despots feel? 
Hear it in yon battle peal! 

Ask it ye who will!" 

Speak the next passage with a mixture of loud tone and 
quiet; aiming to get each in its proper place. Follow the 
sense of the language. 

"Ye crags and peaks, I'm with you once again! 
I hold to you the hands you first beheld, 
To show they still are free. Methinks I hear 
A spirit in your echoes answer me, 
And bid your tenant welcome home again! 

In the following, change Strength as often as needed; which 
is rather often: 

"But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight 
for the things that we have always carried nearest our hearts — for 



114 BETTER SPEECH 

democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a 
voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small 
nations, for the universal dominion of right by such a concert of free 
peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the 
world itself at last free. 

"To such a task we dedicate our lives and fortunes, every- 
thing that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of 
those who know that the day has come when America is privileged 
to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her 
birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God 
helping her, she can do no other." 

EXERCISES 

1. Utter the following with a shout: 

Forward, the light brigade! 
Charge for the guns! 

Hurrah! hurrah! a single field hath turned the chance of war; 

Hurrah! hurrah! for Ivry and Henry of Navarre! 

"Make way for liberty! " he cried. 

Down with the tyrant . Down with him ! 

We have won ! Victory ! victory ! victory ! 

Ship ahoy! Ship ahoy! 

All aboard ! All aboard ! 

2. Engage in the following ten-minute practice daily; preferably 
in the morning: * 

Two minutes of deep breathing. 

Two minutes of deep reading (reading on a low level of Pitch). 

Two minutes of shouting. 

Four minutes declaiming a selection of oratory. 

3. By Rate 

There are still other ways of showing how we feel when we 
speak; general Tone and Strength of voice is not all. In 
addition to Kind and Strength of Tone we reveal our feelings 
by the rate of speed we take. 

Attitude as Shown by Time. When you talk slowly, your 
* Adapted from R. L. Cumnock: Choice Readings. 



VOICE 115 

listeners assume that you are showing something of how you 
feel. A person who is really sad or depressed talks very 
deliberately and with a drag in the voice; so does a person 
who is awed by something wonderful and stupendous or 
fearful. Also when a man is very anxious to be understood, 
especially not to be misunderstood, he will talk slowly and 
with great deliberation; he shows his mood and intensity 
of purpose by the slow rate he takes. So that when we hear 
another person drawling or dragging out his sentences, we 
think that " something ails him," meaning that he is in some 
kind of mood and that he is showing it by his slow rate. 
Say these two, one after the other: 

This is the forest primeval. 

T-h-i-s i-s the f-o — r — est p-r-i — m-e-e-e — val. 

Note that each represents a quite different mood, or atti- 
tude — different meaning. You very clearly feel differently 
about the matter in each case. 

Change of Speed Reveals Your Attitude. Some people talk 
fast ordinarily, others slowly. Those who talk fast alto- 
gether and never slowly and those who talk slowly altogether 
and never fast, usually do not let the listener know how they 
feel; they are likely to be pretty dull speakers and readers. 
But those who change their rate to fit their mood, tell much 
to the listener. When they are sad they are slow, when they 
are merry they are lively, when they are in earnest they are 
both slow and fast by turns. 

The following passages should be spoken in a prevailingly 
slow rate: 

(a) God of our fathers, known of old; 

Lord of our far-flung battle line; 
Beneath whose awful hand we hold 

Dominion over palm and pine; 
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, 

Lest we forget — lest we forget! 



116 BETTER SPEECH 

(b) The night hath a thousand eyes, 
And the day but one; 
Yet the light of the whole world dies 
With the dying sun. 

The mind hath a thousand eyes 

And the heart but one; 
Yet the light of a whole life dies 

When love is done. 

(c) When a great man falls, the nation mourns; when a patriot is 
removed, the people weep. Ours is no common bereavement. The 
chains which linked our hearts with the gifted spirits of former 
times have been suddenly snapped. The hps from which flowed 
those living and glorious truths that our fathers uttered are closed 
in death. Yes, Death has been among us. He has not entered the 
humble cottage of some unknown and ignoble peasant; he has 
knocked audibly at the palace of the nation. His footstep has been 
heard in the halls of state. He has cloven down the victim in the 
midst of the councils of the people. 

(d) He knew to bide his time, 
And can his fame abide, 
Still patient in his simple faith sublime, 
Till the wise years decide. 
Great captains, with their guns and drums, 
Disturb our judgment for the hour, 
But at last silence comes! 
These all are gone, and, standing like a tower, 
Our children shall behold his frame, 
The kindly-earnest, brave, foreseeing man, 
Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame, 
New birth of our new soil, the first American. 

These passages call for a rapid rate throughout: 

(a) A voice by the cedar-tree 

In the meadow under the Hall! 

She is singing an air that is known to me 

A passionate ballad, gallant and gay, 

A martial song like a trumpet's call! 

Singing alone in the morning of life, 

In the happy morning of life and of May. Tennyson. 



VOICE 117 

(b) "What's that so black agin the sun?" said Files-on-Parade. 
What's that that whimpers over'ead? 

Kipling. 

(c) A hurry of hoofs in a village street, 

A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, 

And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark 

Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet; 

That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light, 

The fate of a nation was riding that night; 

And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight, 

Kindled the land into flame with its heat. 

Longfellow. 

(d) If ye are beasts, then stand there like fat oxen waiting for 
the butcher's knife; if ye are men, follow me! Strike down yon 
guard, gain the mountain passes, and then do bloody work as did 
your sires at old Thermopylae Is Sparta dead? Is the old Grecian 
spirit frozen in your veins, that you do crouch and cower like a 
belabored hound beneath his master's lash? 

Kellog. 

The following passages need a change of rate; change to fit 
the change in mood. 

(a) And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed, 
The mustering squadron, and the clattering car, 
Went pouring forward with impetuous speed. 
And swiftly forming in the ranks of war; 

And the deep thunder peal on peal afar; 
And near, the beat of the alarming drum 
Roused up the soldier ere the morning star; 
While throng'd the citizens with terror dumb, 
Or whispering, with white lips — " The foe! They come! They 
come!" 

Byron. 

(b) He passes the fountain, the blasted pine tree — 
The footstep is lagging and weary; 

Yet onward he goes through the broad belt of light 
Toward the shade of the forest so dreary. 



118 BETTER SPEECH 

Hark! Was it the night wind that rustled the leaves? 
Was it moonlight so wondrously flashing? 
It looked like a rifle — "Ah, Mary, good-bye!" 
And the life-blood is ebbing and plashing. 

Reeves. 

(c) No royal governor sits in yon stately capitol; no hostile fleet for 

many a year has vexed the waters of our coast; nor is any 
army but our own ever likely to tread our soil. Not such are 
the enemies of to-day. They do not come proudly stepping to 
the drum-beat, with bayonets flashing in the morning sun. 
But wherever party spirit shall strain the ancient guarantees 
of freedom, or bigotry and ignorance shall lay their hands 
upon education, or the arrogance of caste shall strike at equal 
rights, or corruption shall poison the very springs of national 
life, there, minute men of liberty, are your Lexington Green 
and Concord Bridge! 

Curtis. 

(d) Are you asking, "How can I know my aptitude?" I answer, 

stand off and watch yourself. A blacksmith watched himself 
and found that he had a quick eye for color. Soon he was 
earning double wages by sharpening drills for quarrymen. A 
clerk watched himself. He found he had a delicate sense of 
touch in woolen goods, and soon he was making his fortune as 
a buyer of woolens. A surgeon watched himself. He found 
he had a peculiarly sensitive finger. Soon he became an expert 
in diagnosis through the sense of touch. These were not 
accidents. Many a person has a sense of color, of touch, of 
proportion, of time, yet will always be "bound in shallows 
and miseries," because he never discovers and uses his peculiar 
gift. If Helen Keller, deaf, dumb, and blind, could discover 
herself, why not everyone? There is but one obstacle. 

4. By Level of Pitch 

Attitude as Shown by Level of the Voice. Finally, for show- 
ing one 's general attitude about what he says, there is the way 
of talking in a High Pitch or Low Pitch or on a level some- 
where between high and low. It is a thing you can detect 
easily and can read at once; when you hear a person using a 



VOICE 119 

shrill, high voice, you know that something is agitating him; 
if not, then you mistake his meaning and feeling. If, again, 
he is speaking in a deep, low tone, you think of him as in an 
entirely different mood. High voice for excitement, anger, 
calm serenity, great weakness; low voice for solemnity, 
august dignity, awed fear, deep meditation. The voice on 
the middle Level tells us that the speaker or reader is rather 
calm, not at all beside himself, and going his regular even way. 
Two women quarrelling over a back-yard fence shriek and 
scream at each other at the very "top of their voices." 
Children at play are almost always excited about it, and their 
voices show their excitement in their loud squeals and shrieks. 
Even grown men, when they get over-wrought and full of 
quick fear and anger, raise their voices to the very top of 
their scale, and keep it there for sentence after sentence. 
These same men when deeply impressed, by a tragedy, 
by thoughts of death and religious ideals, patriotism, and 
the eternal things, speak in a voice that is all low, and deep, 
and impressive. The women, for all their scolding when angry, 
speak in the face of death or disaster, in their deepest, low- 
est tones. These levels, high or medium or low, show what 
people feel — what mood they are in. 

EXERCISE 

Speak the following passages on a high level of Pitch: 

(a) Sail forth into the sea, ship! 

Through wind and wave, right onward steer! 

The moistened eye, the trembling lip, 
Are not the signs of doubt or fear. 

Thou too sail on, Ship of State! 
Sail on, Union, strong and great! 

Humanity with all its fears, 

With all its hopes of future years, 
Is hanging breathless on thy fate! 

Longfellow. 



120 BETTER SPEECH 

(b) Oh young Lochinvar is come out of the West, — 
Through all the wide border his steed was the best! 
And, save his good broadsword he weapon had none; 
He rode all unarmed and he rode all alone. 

So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war, 
There never was knight like the young Lochinvar. 

Scott. 

(c) Gone to be married! — gone to swear a peace! 

False blood to false blood join'd! Gone to be friends! 
Shall Louis have Blanch? and Blanch those provinces? 
It is not so; thou hast misspoke, misheard; 
Be well advised, tell o'er thy tale again; 
It cannot be; thou dost but say 'tis so: 



(d) Go ring the bells and fire the guns, 
And fling the starry banners out; 
Shout ''Freedom!" till your lisping ones 
Give back the cradle shout. 



Shakespeare. 



Whittier. 



(e) What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how 

infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and 
admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension — 
how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of 
animals! 

Shakespeare. 

(f ) It is a beauteous evening, calm and free, 
The holy time is quiet as a Nun 
Breathless with adoration; the broad sun 
Is sinking down in its tranquillity; 

The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the Sea: 

Wordsworth. 

The following passages, to be given the right meaning, 
must have a low level of Pitch: 

(a) I heard the trailing garments of the night 
Sweep through her marble halls ! 
I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light 
From the celestial walls. 






y VOICE 121 

I felt her presence, by its spell of night, 

Stoop o'er me from above; 
The calm, majestic presence of the light, 

As of the one I love. 

Longfellow. 

(b) During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in 
the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively 
low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, 
through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length 
found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within 
view of the melancholy House of Usher. 

Poe. 

(c) And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting 
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; 
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming, 
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the 

floor; 
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor 
Shall be lifted — nevermore! 

Poe. 

(d) We look before and after, 

And pine for what is not; 
Our sincerest laughter 

With some pain is fraught; 
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. 

Shelley. 

(e) Marcellus: Peace, Break thee off; look, where it comes again! 
Bernado: In the same figure, like the king that's dead. 
Mar.: Thou art a scholar; speak to it, Horatio. 

Ber.: Looks it not like the king? Mark it, Horatio. 
Horatio: Most like; it harrows me with fear and wonder. 

Shakespeare. 

Read the following on a Medium Level: 

(a) Oh, but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone, Scrooge! 
A squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old 
sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from whom no steel had ever struck 
out generous fire; secret and self-contained and solitary as an oyster. 



122 BETTER SPEECH 

The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, 
shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait, made his eyes red, his thin 
lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. 

Dickens. 

(b) Meanwhile that devil-may-care, the bobolink, 

Remembering duty, in mid-quaver, stops 
Just ere he sweeps o'er rapture's tremulous brink, 

And twixt the winrows most demurely drops, 
A decorous bird of business, who provides 

For his brown mate and fledglings six besides, 
And looks from right to left, a farmer 'mid his crops. 

Lowell. 

(c) Such were, before the war, these three beautiful little towns 
of Flanders by the sea. The sea loved them. She swept toward 
them with a murmur of waves; the tremendous booming song of her 
equinoctial winds was their lullaby. Their towers gazed out over 
the sandhills to where the great ships were passing in the open sea. 
They dominated a fertile land rescued long ago by our Flemish 
ancestors from the very waves themselves. Fine roads, bordered 
with willows, lead from Ypres to Dixmude, from Dixmude to Niew- 
port. The three towns asked only to live at peace in the sunshine. 
But they have been chosen to endure the noise and the terror of 
great guns. 

Verhaeren. 

(d) Under the greenwood tree 
Who loves to lie with me 

And tune his merry note 
Unto the sweet bird's throat — 

Come hither, come hither, come hither! 
Here shall he see 
No enemy 
But winter and rough weather. 

Shakespeare. 

(e) Tell you what I like the best — 
Long about knee deep in June, 
'Bout the time strawberries melts 
On the vine, some afternoon 
Like to jes' git out and rest, 
And not work at nothin' else! 



VOICE 123 



Orchard's where I'd ruther be — 
Needn't fence it in for me! 

Jes' the whole sky overhead, 
And the whole airth underneath- 
Sort' a so's a man kin breathe 
Like he ort, and kindo' has 
Elbo-room to keerlessly 
Sprawl out len'thway on the grass 
Where the shadders thick and soft 

As the kivers on the bed 
Mother fixes in the loft 
Alius, when they's Company. 



Riley. 



D. Making the Sentence Understood: Emphasis 

To help listeners understand sentences, there must be, in 
addition to the general attitude, something that makes clear 
what it is all about The sentences must have, not only an air, 
but they must have sense; not only must the listener catch an 
attitude, but he must get a knowledge of the facts the sen- 
tences tell. 

Sense Depends upon Emphasis. Emphasis can be defined 
as the attempt to bring out the sense by calling special atten- 
tion to the more important ideas in the sentence. Without 
Emphasis there is no sentence sense; for unless there is proper 
subordination of the unimportant and a sensible playing up of 
the important, there is no emphasis and no logical meaning. 
To study Emphasis and Sentence Sense we must break the 
sentence up into its parts; we now must consider phrases and 
individual words. 

Emphasis and the "Parts of Speech." Your old friend — 
or enemy — grammar is one way of studying how to get the 
sense into and out of sentences. Consequently the elements 
of grammar, the old familiar "parts of speech," play a very 
important role in getting the meaning through the voice to a 
listener 's understanding. 



124 BETTER SPEECH 

Emphasis falls most often in a sentence on the more impor- 
tant parts of speech; the most important of all being: the 
nouns and the verbs. Nouns and verbs most of the time carry 
the burden of the sentence's meaning; they are the back- 
bone of sentence sense. So when they get their share of 
Emphasis, there is likely to be some sense that can be 
gathered. Next to nouns and verbs come adjectives and ad-j 
verbs. Then following come pronouns, conjunctions, preposi- 
tions. Interjections are in a class by themselves; they are 
always important, never subordinate. 

Say this sentence aloud and ascertain how you emphasize 
it: 

To speak intelligently one must speak with variety. 

How is the sense of this brought out? What does the voice 
do to make this sentence meaningful? What words are made 
more important than the others? We can all readily see that 
there are three words given special treatment: speak, intelli- 
gently, and variety. How is this done? 

We shall find upon close inspection that this emphasizing 
of these three words and the subordinating of the other five 
is done in three ways: (1) by making the voice go up and 
down on the scale, (2) by changing the length of time it takes 
to say a word, and (3) by the difference in the degree of 
strength used on the emphasized monosyllabic words and on 
the accented syllables of words of more than one syllable. 

Voice the following sentence, and follow the emphasis as 
indicated: 

Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trip- 
pingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of our 
players do, I had as lief the town crier spake my lines. 

EXERCISES 

Can you make out what your voice does by way of getting 
words emphasized? Can you hear it go up and down, can you 



VOICE 125 

catch it holding certain words and syllables longer than others? 
Can you hear the louder noise you make on some syllables than on 
others? Work on this sort of exercise until you can detect these 
differences, and it will prove a great aid to your knowledge of whether 
you are speaking well or poorly. 

Use these sentences: 

a. Did you ever notice what life and power the Holy Scriptures 
have when well read? 

b. So long as we love we serve; so long as we are loved by others 
I would almost say we are indispensable; and no man is useless who 
has a friend. 

c. My boy, the first thing you want to learn — if you haven't 
learned it already — is to tell the truth. The pure, sweet, refreshing, 
wholesome truth. For one thing it will save you so much trouble. 
Oh, heaps of trouble. And a terrible strain on your memory. 
Sometimes — and when I say sometimes I mean a great many 
times — it is hard to tell the truth the first time. But when you 
have told it, there is an end of it. You have won the victory; the 
fight is over. Next time you tell the truth you can tell it without 
thinking. You won't have to stop and think what you said yester- 
day. You won't have to stop and look round and see who is there 
before you begin telling it. And you won't have to invent a lot of 
new lies to reinforce the old one. 

d. Of all the qualities which great books and especially the Bible 
have, few are more remarkable than their power of bringing out 
the unity of dissociated and apparently contradictory ideas. 

e. But this I confess unto you, that after the way which they 
call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things 
which are written in the law and the prophets. 

f . There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at 
the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; 
that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that 
though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing 
corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of 
ground which is given him to till. 

Need of Variety. The more you get an understanding of 
how you make others catch your sentence sense, the more 
clearly will you realize that the secret of success in sounding 



126 BETTER SPEECH 

sensible when you talk or read, lies in using plenty of va- 
riety; variety of changes up and down, variety in the length 
of time you take to pronounce your words, and variety in the 
amount of vocal strength you use on the accented syllables and 
important words. To use plenty of this variety and to get 
the changes in the right place, is the whole secret of how to 
sound sensible when you read and talk. 

1. Emphasis by Variety of Pitch 

a. The Slide 

If you talk like a wide-awake person and not like one half- 
dead, lifeless, or naturally dull — like a feeble-minded person 
— every syllable you utter has a Slide in it. Without this 
slide there is no intelligent talk: the Slide is just as much a 
part of the Speech Code as words or sentences. In fact it is 
the most distinctly vocal thing we possess in the way of carry- 
ing sense. Say the following sentence aloud : 

The class that has hitherto ruled in this country has failed mis- 
erably. It revels in power and wealth, whilst at its feet, a terrible 
peril for the future, lies the multitude which it has neglected. If a 
class has failed, let us try the nation. 

Speak this very slowly and, if you read it with sense, and 
also if your ear tells you what it ought to tell, then you will 
find that in every syllable there is a turn of the voice either up 
or down. This is what we here call the Slide. Now right 
there is the difference between speaking and singing. In 

singing the typical note is held evenly, like this . 

But in speaking the typical note either bends upward as, 

^/ or it bends downward as ^v . The rule in speaking 
is that if there is no Slide there is poor speaking. When you 
get so that you can detect it, you will possibly be sur- 
prised at how much of the speaking that we dislike or do not 
listen to with interest, is lacking in the right use of slides. 



VOICE 127 

As a means of helping your ear to detect this action of the 
voice, take the passage just quoted above, and mark the up- 
ward and the downward slides. Then count them and see 
which is the more numerous. 

Note the relative number of upward and downward slides 
in this sentence: 

Marley was dead, to begin with. There was no doubt whatever 
about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, 
the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed 
it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change for anything he 
chose to put his hand to. 

The Downward Slide. The great majority of syllables are 
pronounced with an upward Slide. The downward Slide is 
used but seldom, to bring out the more important words, 
particularly those at the end of a thought or statement. 
When declarative sentences are well constructed, the down- 
ward Slide at the end is the thing to be expected. It is a sig- 
nal to the listener that a unit of the sense has been completed. 
It is the sign of the full stop. It represents conclusiveness, 
definiteness, positiveness. 

Speak these sentences aloud and note the downward slide 
at the end: 

They marched through ten towns. 

The war is over. 

Whatever may be the sentiments of the rulers, the people can 
be trusted to do what is right. 

He was patient amidst tribulation, wise amidst popular folly, 
and courageous when men around him were faltering. 

The Downward Slide as Emphasis. The Downward Slide 
also serves to bring out words not at the end of the thought; 
in this way emphasis can be given a word or phrase that is not 
in a rhetorically emphatic place. Note what the suggested 
Downward Slide does to the words marked : 



128 BETTER SPEECH 

/ / / \ \ \ \ \ 
This is a fine state of affairs ! 
// / \ \ \ / / / / /\ 
I think mahogany is the best wood to use. 
// / ///// / / /\ 
I think mahogany is the best wood to use. 
\ / //////// / A \ 

He took them all without asking anybody's permission. 
\/ / \ ///.///// \ \ 
He took them all without asking anybody's permission. 
/\ /////.//// / \ \ 

He took them all without asking anybody's permission. 

The Upward Slide. The great majority of slides turn up- 
wards. This has to be, because otherwise we should sound 
too pompous, too emphatic, too aggressive. To get the right 
impression of this, speak any of the sentences marked above, 
giving every syllable a downward slide. You will find that 
you sound as if angry at something or as if you felt very, 
very important. When you talk that way, nobody gets a 
clear idea of the meaning you are trying to carry. 

An important use of the Upward Slide is on adjectives 
and adverbs. It has already been said that nouns and verbs 
are almost always more important than their qualifying and 
limiting adjectives and adverbs. How is this shown most 
commonly in speaking? Find the answer in the use of the 
Slides. 

Say this sentence, "He is a great hero." The noun hero is 
more important as it stands than the adjective great; therefore 
it should have a Downward Slide. But the word great is im- 
portant enough to need some emphasis; how is it given? 
By an upward Slide longer than that given to the unimpor- 
tant words of the sentence. So the sentence would be spoken: 

/ / / / \ \ 
He is a great hero. 

Dividing the Emphasis. This is the most common way of 
giving emphasis to adjectives and adverbs. It is what is 
known as Dividing the Emphasis. It is important in making 



VOICE 129 

sense out of your spoken sentences. Some talkers have an 
unwise way of "sacrificing the noun to the adjective." Girls 

/ / \ / / / 
are said to be addicted to it: "We had such a lovely time," 
/// \\\ / / / \ / ftt 

"It was a beautiful dress," "It was such fun," "He was a 

\ / / \ \ \ 

grand man," "My poor, wet hat." It is only rarely that the 
best sense is brought out by giving the noun the Upward 
Slide and giving the Downward Slide to the adjective, 

7 / / V* 
The same for verbs and their adverbs: " It was well done," 

/ / \ \ 
is ordinarily more acceptable than "It was well done." Of 
course, if you want to emphasize well, you can do it by the 
Downward Slide; but it is seldom that the adverb merits 
more attention than the verb. You do well to make the verb 
more emphatic unless you know a special reason why you 
should not. 

EXERCISE 

Get the right relation between noun and adjective, verb 
and adverb, in the following sentences: 

The lake is exceedingly rough. 

She had on her prettiest manners. 

He kicked a field-goal. No, it was a drop kick. 

Take this for to-morrow's lesson. 

The reward was richly earned. 

All his work was done very well. 

He took us by surprise completely. 

This is the forest primeval. 

We are always looking for the city beautiful. 

b. The Step 

Emphasis is Given by the Step. Even more important yet in 
gaining Emphasis and sentence sense is the Step. The Step 



130 BETTER SPEECH 

is the movement of the Voice up or down from one word to 
the next. Or, better yet, from one syllable to the next. In 
real speech, not chanting, there is always a Step from one 
syllable to the one following. Getting sentence sense is a 
matter of constantly going up or down between syllables. 
Note that even in pronouncing a word, you go up and down 
among the syllables. 
Say these words and note how this works out: 

Acceptable, interpret, usable, unquestionably, uninterruptedly. 

You will observe that to say all syllables on the same 
level is to keep them from sounding like words at all. In 
particular you can note that the accented syllable is shot up 
to a much higher pitch than the syllables not accented. To 
show graphically how these words are actually pronounced, 
they must be pictured about like this: 



ac te in 

■o/e Pret 



' rupt 
un W - 



us cp e * 

« tion 



A simple sentence is a series of these steps. " We are a part 
of all we meet," must be pictured: 

9 tf* 

a 
We ^e 

meet 



VOICE 131 

EXERCISE 

In order to train your ear to grasp this more clearly, write 
out the following sentences in the form of the Steps and Slides 
to be used in speaking them aloud : 

(a) The world is too much with us. 

(b) Endeavor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of 

celestial fire called Conscience. 

(c) Truth is eternal and must prevail. 

(d) Most men are not affected by what Congress does in making 

laws; they are indifferent in spirit, and untouched by 
what happens at Washington. 

The Step as Emphasis. From these examples it will be seen 
that the Step is used for a very valuable form of Emphasis. 
You can probably state the rule for yourself by this time. 
When an extra long step is taken from one word to the next, 
that word stands out: 






death 

The jump to me and liberty emphasizes them; the emphasis 
given death is given by the long downward step. 

To be Alert in Speech, use Many Steps. The live speaker 
keeps his voice jumping up and down all the time. " Monot- 
ony" is more often a matter of dropping out or reducing the 
Steps. People of whom we say, " Well, he lacks character; 
he is colorless," almost always talk without enough steps; 
it is the lack of steps that takes away their color — or shows 
that they never had any. The Step is very essential to carry- 
ing the sense of what you wish to get others to accept. 



132 BETTER SPEECH 

Animated Talking Requires the Widest of Steps. What we 
known as wide-awake, animated talking, always uses many 
steps and wide ones. For example, in making an explana- 
tion — a thing that cannot be done with any effect unless it is 
animated and even intense — the success of the whole attempt 
is determined by the vigor and dash with which you can 
step upward and downward in lively fashion. Explanations 
are at best pretty hard things to get across to other people; 
and they never count unless given in the animated manner of 
much stepping. 

Descriptions need the same style, except when you get 
dreamy about it or rapturous or exalted ; then the steps are 
not so wide. But to let a listener know " how the land lay" 
or "how things stood with respect to each other," you need 
much up and down, in slides and steps. 

Read these passages and note how wide a range of Pitch it 
needs to make them mean enough when read: 

"It seems I see before me far-stretching billows of full-ripened 
grain, and everywhere broad, smiling fields give promise of a 
happy harvest time. Even as I look the reapers come, each swing 
of their glinting scythe-blades leaves behind long swathes of new- 
cut grain; and — yes, I hear the up-swelling strains of the joyous 
song of the harvest home." 

"Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you." 

"One afternoon as Hilda entered St. Peter's in sombre mood, 
its interior beamed upon her with all the effect of a new creation. 
It seemed an embodiment of whatever the imagination could 
conceive, as a magnificent, comprehensive, majestic symbol of 
religious life." 

Sentences like these are dull without using wide Slides 
and wide Steps. Once make them monotonous, and nobody 
will listen to the words or get any meaning from the 
sentences. 



VOICE 133 

2. Emphasis by Variety op Time 

The most common kinds of Emphasis come from changes 
in Pitch; the next most common kind come from changes in 
Time. Of these there are three main types: (a) Holding the 
Tone, (b) Pausing, (c) Phrasing. 

(a) Holding the Tone 

A sure way of attracting attention to a word is to take longer 
in saying it. In this sentence, note the emphasis upon the 
word held a while: "You have the wro-o-n-g number." Again, 
"He has the stre-eng-th of a lion." "I will ma-ake them do it." 

"From a-a-11 that dwe-ell below the ski-ies 
Let their Cre-ee-a-a-tor's pra-ise ari — se." 

In the following passage note how much of the emphasis 
is achieved by holding the tone; in reading it, prolong the 
syllable italicized: 

The storm increased with the night. The sea was lashed into 
tremendous confusion. There was a /earful, sullen sound of rush- 
ing waves and broken surges. Deep called unto deep. At times the 
black column of clouds overhead seemed rent asunder by flashes of 
lightning which quivered along the foaming Mows and made the 
succeeding darkness doubly terrible. 

Voice the following passage to bring out the prolongation 
on the accented syllables: 

How ill this taper burns! Ha! who comes here? 
I think it is the weakness of mine eyes 
That shapes this monstrous apparition. 

r r t m 

It comes upon me. Art thou any thing? 

Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil, 

That makest my blood cold and my hair to stare? 

Speak to me what thou art. 

Shakespeare. 



134 BETTER SPEECH 

Make Short Sounds Short Enough. One of the common 
ways of being hard to understand, especially in reading from 
a book or in public address, is to make all syllables the same 
length. Some people talk like a metronome or typewriter, 
making all sounds equally long. It is not good speaking. 
It is a common form of what is called " indirectness," and 
is very monotonous and uninteresting. You get the effect 
if you speak this passage giving every syllable the same 
length as any other: 

He faced his audience with a tranquil mien, and a beaming 
aspect that was never dimmed. He spoke, and in the measured 
cadence of his quiet voice there was intense feeling, but no decla- 
mation, no passionate appeal, no superficial and feigned emotion. 
It was simply colloquy — a gentleman conversing. Unconsciously 
and surely the ear and heart were charmed. How was it done? 
Ah, how did Mozart do it? How Raphael? The secret of the 
rose's sweetness, of the bird's ecstasy, of the sunset's glory — 
that is the secret of genius and eloquence. 

Curtis (speaking of Wendell Phillips). 

Now read the passage again, making the long sounds 
long enough in time and the short ones very short. The test 
to apply in getting the short syllables short enough is that 
they must be distinct; understood and nothing more. If 
you will make them just distinct, you will give them their 
proper place in the sentence sense you are bringing out. 
These short and insignificant sounds, you will notice, are for 
the most part the a's, an J s, the (he's, along with the con- 
junctions, prepositions, and pronouns. Particularly watch 
the prepositions; of, to, for, with, and their kind, must be 
kept out of sight. Also the conjunctions; and, but, for, be- 
cause go best when uttered very quickly — but distinctly. 

(b) Pausing 

Use Many Pauses. Pausing is one of the most natural 
things in the world, because we have to pause to breathe. 



VOICE 135 

So all talkers have to pause much, and all listeners are used 
to hearing much pausing. Thus it is a necessary part of speak- 
ing, and also a necessary part of the Speech Code. Besides, 
few of us can always find just the word we want when we 
want it; so we all pause now and then to reach after that next 
word. We do this so often and so readily that good speaking 
always takes on a little of this hunting for words. When you 
hear a man who never seems to have to find his word, you are 
likely to suspect that he does not mean what he says or does 
not do any real thinking when he says it. If he is reciting 
somebody else's words we can always tell how good a reader 
or reciter he is by his use of pauses. 

Most young people, when they read, charge ahead full 
tilt, taking out just time enough to gasp for breath, then 
rushing ahead again full speed. It is a very common and 
maddening fault. Nobody gets the meaning out of such 
reading. True, the reader gets all the words in; but words are 
not speech; there must be meaning, sense. And no sense is 
carried without pauses. 

(c) Phrasing 

An important use of the Pause is for Phrasing. Sentence 
Sense is dependent upon the relation of parts of the sentence. 
Phrasing is a matter of getting the pauses in the places where 
they help most to bring out the sense. In the sentence 
following note the necessity for phrasing: 

The door of Scrooge's counting-house/was open, /that he might 
keep his eye upon his clerk,/who/in a dismal little cell beyond,/a 
sort of tank, /was copying letters. 

To say this all in one breath, would make poor sense; you 
would not hold attention. It needs breaks, gaps — pauses. 

Speak the following, and place the pauses in the right 
place : 



136 BETTER SPEECH 

" If I had the time/to find a place 
And sit me down/full face to face 
With my better self , //that cannot show 
In my daily life/that rushes so;/// 
It might be/then I would see/my soul 
Was stumbling still/toward the shining goal,// 
I might be nerved by the thought sublime,/// 
If/I had the time. 

Take the fifth line of this as an example of how the sense 
can be completely overthrown by senseless phrasing. Sup- 
pose it were spoken: " It might be then I would see my soul"; 
and that is no sense at all. By your phrasing you can escape 
this meaninglessness, so common in reading poetry, and can 
bring out the real meaning. 

3. Emphasis by Variety of Vocal Strength 

Loud Tones are Emphatic. The Emphasis gained by using 
a loud tone is probably the kind best-known. Many people 
make the mistake of thinking that this is what Emphasis 
means, making a noise; that this is the only kind. By this 
time we can see that this is a mistaken notion; Emphasis is of 
many kinds. Yet the Emphasis that comes from a short 
shout, or a sudden quietness, is very valuable and important. 

To make Emphasis just what it ought to be, you must be 
able to get the harder stroke on emphasized words — or the 
lighter stroke. For — another misconception — many people 
look upon the Emphasis of the louder voice as being the only 
kind. But this is not so; you get Emphasis just as well by a 
sudden lowering of your tone. In the first of these passages, 
use a stronger voice on the Italicized syllables: 

"Sir, I know the uncertainty of human affairs, but I see, 1 
see clearly, through this day's 6wsiness. You and I, indeed, may 
rue it. We may not live to the time when this declaration shall be 
made good. We may die; die, colonists; die, slaves; die, it may be, 
igno?mraously and on the scaffold. Be it so, be it so." 



VOICE 137 

In this next instance note that a decided emphasis is 
achieved by using a tone that is quiet. Assume that one is 
speaking in a strong, loud voice, and then suddenly, on the 
most important words, becomes calm and quiet. The 
Emphasis gained thus is very effective. 

"Go; never return. You have ruined my character, robbed me 
of my good name, wounded my pride, taken away my friends — 
broken my heart." 

You can even use this device for humor; in the following 
passages note the effect that is gained by using a loud tone up 
to the last clause, and then dropping down to a tone that is 
relatively quiet: 

The enemy is now hovering on our borders, preparing to press 
the knife to our throats, to devastate our fields, to quarter them- 
selves in our houses, and to devour our poultry. 

What were the results of this conduct? — beggary! dishonor! 
utter ruin! and a broken leg! 

C. Ideas That Need Emphasis 

We have now studied the ways of getting emphasis; 
the next matter of importance is to know when to use it. On 
what words should Emphasis fall? How can one be guided so 
as to get it in the right place? If the emphasis is placed on the 
wrong words, away goes the sense. No proper Emphasis, 
no proper sense; sense is merely a matter of selecting the 
right Emphasis. So we need a few rules; just the simplest 
ones here : 

(1) Pay Especial Attention to Nouns and Verbs. They are the 
backbone of speech; only in exceptional cases do they escape 
emphasis. 

"The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the 
executive government of the United States being not far distant, 
and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed 
in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important 



138 BETTER SPEECH 

trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a 
more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now 
apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being con- 
sidered among the number of those out of whom a c/wzce is to be 
made." 

Washington. 

(2) Place Emphasis upon the New Idea in the Sentence. As 
you talk you necessarily introduce new ideas; every good 
sentence has some of the thought of the preceding sentence 
and something that sentence did not have. By placing 
Emphasis upon the new idea, and subordinating the repeated, 
you make it easy for listeners to get what you mean. 

Has the gentleman done? Has he completely done? 

Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy Shepherd 
boy! 

Hurrah for the sea, the all-glorious sea! 

He who speaks honestly cares not, need not care, though his 
words be preserved to remotest time. 

The dishonest speaker, not he only who purposely utters false- 
hoods, but he who does not purposely utter Truth, and Truth 
alone — 

I am no orator as Brutus is; — But were I Brutus — 

If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do — 

(3) Words that Bear a Special Burden of Meaning. Every 
now and then your sentence will contain a word that strikes 
you as especially significant; you feel that if your listener 
doesn't get anything else he must get that. 

I want you to do it this way. 
Liberty and Union! 

This scheme is practicable, yours is thoroughly impracticable. 
One may use a correct word and yet at the same time use an 
unfortunate word. 

You can also shift the emphasis in a sentence; but when you 
do so, you make a new sentence. Shift the emphasis in the 
following : 



VOICE 139 

My answer is, No! 

This is my way of doing it. 

But mercy is above this sceptered sway. 

Whether it shall be you or I, we shall see. 

I tell you, this must be true. 

I tell you, it must be true. 

I tell you, it must be true. 

He is a good citizen; but he evades his income tax. 

(4) To Bring out a Hidden Meaning. Some of the best 
speaking we do is by the use of hidden meanings: (1) techni- 
cally called innuendos, commonly known as hints, "slams," 
sarcasm, "roasts"; and (2) implications not specifically stated, 
meanings implied but not put into words. 

(1) Innuendos: 

Yes, he is a brave man. (But we know he is no such thing.) 
If you think so, of course it is all right. (But I am not so sure 
of your judgment as you are.) 

This is undoubtedly true. (Not by a good deal!) 

You are a, fine specimen of humanity! (You are a cheat.) 

(2) Implications not Stated: 

This is my place. (Not yours.) 
Not this time. (Maybe some other time.) 
Oh, it's you, is it! (I thought it was somebody else.) 
He gave it to me. (He didn't sell it, or lend it.) 
They were all there. (You are wrong in saying some were 
missing.) 
I know it is true. (Despite your denial.) 

VI. CONTINUITY IN SPEECH 
Continuity a Problem in Itself. What makes listeners get 
restless after a person has talked for about three minutes; 
that is, all too often? The answer is rather simply stated: 
Lack of Variety. By this time we can appreciate that there 
are an amazingly large number of things one can do with his 
voice if he has trained it. 

With so much to draw from why will speakers continue to 
talk on and on using only a handful of what ought to be a 



140 BETTER SPEECH 

bushel! They do, everywhere and before all manner of men. 
Monotony of one kind or another, in Thinking, Language, 
Voice, and Action, is what causes so many people to shrink 
at the thought of going out to a public meeting, and is what 
makes so many other people little less than bores in conver- 
sation. As to interpreting literature vocally, Variety is the 
great secret of success, and the lack of it the cause of so much 
failure. 

RULES FOR CONTINUITY IN SPEAKING AND READING 

A few simple rules will help you overcome your difficulties 
in keeping up your talk or in reading beyond a few sentences: 

(1) Survey the Whole Speech; and know what moods it 
contains. Change your mood to suit the Thought; and also 
change your Voice to suit the mood. Shift General Tone to 
fit your Thought. Be sure not to keep to one Tone too long. 

(2) Keep the Body Refreshed. Just as sure as you allow 
yourself to stand still in one position, you will become monot- 
onous in Voice; unless you are one of the rare and almost 
miraculous exceptions. Keep your body in varied attitudes 
and movements, and your Voice will get variety also. 

(3) Remember how Flexible an Instrument the Voice Is. 
Many people get boresome when speaking because they lazily 
allow themselves to use only a part of the vocal machinery. 
They try to get along on changes in Force only, or changes 
in Time only, or changes in Pitch only. It cannot be done. 
The effective speaker uses all and changes his focus from one 
to another often. 

One experienced speaker tells how he discovered that in 
his public addresses he was shouting too much on an even 
level of Strength and Pitch. He found that by changing 
now and then from loud to quiet and from high pitch to low 
pitch, to match the Thought, he held his audiences much 
better, and got better results. (He was asking for subscrip- 



VOICE 141 

tions to a cause.) Then he found on another inspection that 
he was rushing along too much at one rate of speed and his 
audiences were getting restless. A change of pace now and 
then, brought better attention. It is very easy to get into 
habits of monotony; but also very easy to break them if you 
know what to look for. 

(4) Think Variety. When you find yourself launched on a 
speech of some length, keep the needs of Variety on your 
heart. Even worry about it a little. Keep in your mind an 
undercurrent of determination not to get into a rut; be bound 
to use all you have; Slides, Steps, Pauses, Long Sounds, Loud 
and Quiet Tones, varied qualities — all of the marvelous Vari- 
ety of which the glorious human voice is capable. 



CHAPTER V 

USING LANGUAGE IN SPEECH 

ORAL ENGLISH 

The glory of our speech is to be found in the strength of its vocabu- 
lary and the richness of its phrases. To that glory belong the harmony 
of its sounds, the cadences of its intonation, and the intimate associa- 
tion of these sounds with the thought expressed. 

F. H. VlZETELLY, 

Most speakers are content if they find the right word. Mr. Asquith 
invariably uses what you feel to be the inevitable word. 

Arthur J. Balfour. 

OUTLINE 

I. All Language was Originally Spoken Language. 

A. Training in Spoken Language is More Fundamental 
Than Training in Written Language. 

II. Common Elements in Spoken Language and Written Language. 

A. Vocabulary. 

B. Good Use. 

C. Grammar. 

III. Writing and Talking Contrasted. 

IV. Sources of the Differences Between Spoken Language and 

Written Language. 

A. Speaker can see Effect of Language — Writer Cannot. 

B. Reader can Re-read — Listener Must Understand at Once. 

C. Reader Has Less Distraction Than Listener. 

D. Written Language Stands Alone — Spoken Language is 

Supported by Voice and Action. 

E. Written Language is Seen — Spoken Language is Heard. 

142 



USING LANGUAGE IN SPEECH 143 

V. Differences Between Spoken Language and Written Language. 

A. Frankness. 

B. Formality. 

C. Care and Precision. 

D. Simplicity and Directness. 

E. Euphony. 

F. Attention Values. 

VI. Language in Formal Public Speaking. 
VII. Attention Values in Spoken Language. 

I. ALL LANGUAGE WAS ORIGINALLY SPOKEN 
LANGUAGE 

What is language and how is it related to speech? All 
words were originally sounds; all language was originally 
spoken language. The black marks on white paper, consti- 
tuting what we call writing or printing, are simply substitutes 
for vocal sounds. These vocal sounds which make up the 
original code of spoken language form one of the four phases 
of speech. They are all too frequently regarded as all that 
there is to speech. 

A. Training in Spoken Language is more Fundamental 
than Training in Written Language. 

When you as a child began to learn language, you had to 
repeat the process by which language was originally de- 
veloped ; that is, you learned to make and to understand 
sounds long before you knew anything at all about writ- 
ing — a code invented to take the place of vocal sounds. In 
a sense, then, written language is more artificial and less 
direct than spoken language. Training in speaking and 
in understanding the spoken words of a language, is more 
fundamental than training in reading and writing. Wit- 
ness the presenfc-day method of teaching a foreign lan- 
guage — the so-called " conversational method." It is pos- 



144 BETTER SPEECH 

sible to learn to read and write a foreign language without 
learning how to speak it; but such a knowledge of reading 
and writing is a rather shallow accomplishment. Those 
who learn a language in this way do not learn to think 
and feel in the language. They never master its inner and 
deeper meanings. 

It is sometimes asserted that anyone who can write good 
English must necessarily be able also to speak good English; 
and, conversely, that anyone who can speak well can also write 
well. It is, however, perfectly possible that one may be able 
to write good English and not be able to speak it effectively. 
And it is also possible that a person may have developed an 
unusual ability to speak and yet never have acquired the some- 
what different skill and technique of writing easily and effec- 
tively. Samuel Johnson once said, as reported by Boswell, 
" Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner 
does he take a pen in his hand than it becomes a torpedo to 
him and benumbs all his faculties." It should be said that it 
would probably be much easier for a man in Tom Birch's 
shoes to learn how to write than it would be for one who had 
done a great deal of writing but little speaking to learn how 
to speak. 

A growing appreciation of the right order of things in 
language training may be seen in the new emphasis which 
English teachers are placing upon "oral composition" and 
" oral English." This change is due not only to a new realiza- 
tion of the fundamental nature of training in spoken language 
but also to an understanding of the fact that, in the daily 
business of living with others, the ability to use spoken lan- 
guage' satisfactorily is vastly more valuable than the ability to 
read and write effectively. That this is true for the average 
man, no one can deny. 

Almost everybody uses spoken language a hundred times 
as often as he uses written language. Unfortunately, your 



USING LANGUAGE IN SPEECH 145 

ability to understand literature and to write themes does 
not seem to affect your daily conversation. You have one 
language for themes and another for talking. The language 
for themes can help your speech, and your speech language 
can help your theme language. But they are still two differ- 
ent languages. 

II. COMMON ELEMENTS IN SPOKEN LANGUAGE AND 
WRITTEN LANGUAGE 

What are the principal common elements in spoken lan- 
guage and written language? 

A. Vocabulary 

The unit of language, — the word — is in large measure the 
same. How does the average person's speaking vocabulary 
compare with his writing vocabulary? We use words in 
writing that we never employ in speaking, and the tend- 
ency of the playground and the street is distinctly toward 
the use of a minimum number of words, repeated over and 
over and over. This is the principal curse of slang. It devel- 
ops the habit of using the same old threadbare phrase again 
and again, making it serve a score of purposes. The man 
who has real ideas tries to use words that fit his thought with 
glovelike exactness, and to use different words for different 
thoughts. 

Your English class will provide you with a satisfactory 
understanding of words. If you really want to develop better 
language for speech, all you have to do is to get the habit of 
using your entire vocabulary in speech; not necessarily all at 
once, of course, but off and on, now and then. Increase your 
speaking vocabulary by learning how to use your writing and 
reading vocabulary. Many boys and girls go through life 
never using in their spoken language more than one-fourth 
of one per cent of the words in the dictionary, and, what is 



146 BETTER SPEECH 

worse, not ten per cent of the words they understand when 
they hear and see them. No use to which you can put your 
understanding of words is half so important as every- 
day speech. It has been said that if we wish to make a word 
our own we can get it by using it three times in our conversa- 
tion. At that price words are cheap. The trouble with our 
speaking vocabularies is that they do not represent our real 
knowledge and ability. 

We Need Words for Thinking. When we are speaking, we 
are often slowed up in thinking because we have never got 
the habit of using enough different words. A good supply of 
words helps at any time; but it helps most when you are 
trying to tell some one what is on your mind. Then a poor, 
wizened, thread-bare vocabulary strangles your thinking 
and ruins your speaking. 

A young woman stood on the ledge of rock five thousand 
feet above the river in the Grand Canyon. As she looked 
out over the magnificent panorama of beauty spread before 
her, she said to her companion, "Gosh, ain't it swell!" 
Language to her was but a twanging string on a box — and, 
be it said, it registered her type of mind and even her kind of 
life. Yet she could undoubtedly understand others when they 
used more satisfactory and appropriate words. The trag- 
edy was due to her inability to use the vocabulary she under- 
stood. 

Says Vizetelly, "The business man whose speech does not 
rise above the quality of, 'I beat him to it'; 'He slipped one 
over on me'; 'They couldn't deliver the goods'; who 'chews 
the rag' about ' such a business ' ' sounding good ' to him ; who 
believes that he ' said a mouthful ' when he acquiesced with an 
'I'll say so,' is calculated to 'jar you' and is one who is not 
likely to rise, himself. Likewise the woman of the 'awfully 
nice' class, who 'adores lobster,' 'wants it the worst way,' 
but is not 'stuck on the place' and would rather go 'some 



USING LANGUAGE IN SPEECH 



147 



place else' where the 'eats' are better, might pass for a 
woman of refinement if she could keep her mouth shut 
until she had learned to say correctly what she has to say."* 

EXERCISES 

1. Test your understanding of the following words by using each 
correctly in a sentence: 



1. tap 

2. scorch 

3. envelope 

4. health 

5. curse 

6. outward 

7. lecture 

8. dungeon 

9. skill 

10. civil 

11. nerve 

12. juggle 

13. regard 

14. stage 

15. brunette 

16. hysterics 

17. Mars 

18. Mosaic 

19. bewail 

20. priceless 

21. valueless 

22. disproportionate 

23. tolerate 

24. artless 

25. depredation 

26. nice 

27. lotus 

28. frustrate 

29. harpy 

30. flaunt 

31. ochre 



32. milk-sop 

33. incrustation 

34. retroactive 

35. ambergris 

36. aromatic 

37. achromatic 

38. perfunctory 

39. casuistry 

40. piscatorial 

41. shagreen 

42. chagrin 

43. haste 

44. mellow 

45. muzzle 

46. quake 

47. plumbing 

48. majesty 

49. misuse 

50. abuse 

51. crunch 

52. forfeit 

53. degradation 

54. sportive 

55. apish 

56. shrewd 

57. peculiar 

58. extraordinary 

59. conscientious 

60. charter 

61. dilapidated 

62. promontory 



F. H. Vizetelly, Mend Your Speech. 



148 BETTER SPEECH 

63. avarice 71. sapient 

64. philanthropy 72. cameo 

65. irony 73. precipitate 

66. sarcasm 74. precipitancy 

67. exaltation 75. limpid 

68. exultation 76. limpet 

69. infuse 77. mosaic 

70. laity 

Let each pupil bring in a list of words he understands but never 
uses. 

B. Good Use 

Language grows and develops into an instrument of beauty 
and service among people who prize it and use it; while among 
those who despise it and misuse it, it deteriorates and declines. 
Slang is all right once in a while; sometimes it just hits off 
what we mean; but when it is born of what Vizetelly has so 
well called "the license universally assumed of creating new 
words with no other apparent object than to avoid the usual 
and appropriate term," it may well be let alone. 

The test is: does a word or phrase suggest what you want 
it to suggest? Poor slang is just that — poor; like a counter- 
feit dollar, no good as a medium of exchange. When we 
choose words, we choose the clothing for our thoughts and 
feelings; and we may profitably be as careful about good 
clothes for thoughts as we are about good clothes for the 
body. 

It is not the number of words you can understand, but the 
number you can and do use correctly, that determines very 
largely what those with whom you live think of your mental 
stuff, and of you yourself. A course in English should be 
giving you an increased store of language; a course in speak- 
ing should be helping you to use the right words in your 
speech. 



USING LANGUAGE IN SPEECH 149 

C. Grammar 

Then, of course, we should carry into our oral language 
what we know about proper sentence structure. Whatever 
differences there may be between good spoken language and 
good written language, there is no proper ground for abandon- 
ing the ordinary foundation principles of grammar when we 
speak. We should usually be careful to speak in complete 
grammatical sentences and in sentences as free as possible 
from confusion of meaning. 

EXERCISES 

Revise the following sentences; say the corrected form out loud. 

1. When I was sick I laid four weeks in the house. 

2. I feel like I was all alone. 

3. Then I went on and says — 

4. Had you have come I would have seen you. 

5. Now fellows, do not let us do that! 

6. Had you any money? No, I did not. 

7. I was awful disgusted. 

8. Is that true? I'll tell the world! 

9. Can I use your 'phone? 

10. She was put to help wash dishes. 

11. She was let pass out of the room. 

12. You have a dandy house here and I have had a dandy time. 

13. Just leave them lay. 

14. That is sure living de luxe. 

15. Pupils come to school to get educated. 

16. You bet I won't! Get me? 

17. I see Briggs has had his wife killed. 

18. We have got to eat to live. 

19. He hadn't ought to have thought it was me. 

20. I'm kind of tired, and sort of disgusted about the matter. 

21. I do not know as I shall want it. 

22. There is a grand show at the movie to-night. 

23. He was absolutely the nicest of all the people in the place. 

24. I was only saying the other day that all people are not sure 

of that. 

25. The stream had overflown its banks. 



150 BETTER SPEECH 

26. She is always wanting to go places. 

27. He had no peers and hadn't hardly an equal. 

28. Don't be too presumptive, sir! 

29. Listen! I went to a show. See! 

30. He dove right in the lake and swum a half mile. 

31. The truth was I did it myself. 

32. Who are you doing that for? 

33. I adore chocolate. 

34. I couldn't help but notice his hat. 

35. Do you think it was him you spoke to. 

36. He pronounces his words differently than us. 

37. The reason I am going is because you are. 

38. Neither he nor I were there. 

39. These kind of sentences are frequent. 

40. The whistle blew continuously. 

41. They were all setting before the grate fire. 

42. This laundry washes clothes without shrinking. 

43. It is better to gradually do it than to suddenly jerk it. 

44. It says in the bulletin that it can't be done. 

(You can add to this list indefinitely. Watch your own 
language for defects similar to those in the foregoing sen- 
tences.) 

III. WRITING AND TALKING CONTRASTED 

Someone has said, " Writing is simply the record of talk- 
ing." It is not true. Edward Bok in his Autobiography 
tells us that he once interviewed Mark Twain and that before 
publishing the interview, he sent the manuscript to Mr. 
Clemens asking for his approval. It was returned with the 
following very interesting letter declining to have the inter- 
view published: 

"My dear Mr. Bok: 

"No, no — it is like most interviews, pure twaddle and valueless. 

"For several quite plain and simple reasons, an 'interview' 
must as a rule be an absurdity. And chiefly for this reason: it is an 
attempt to use a boat on land, or a wagon on water, to speak figura- 
tively. Spoken speech is one thing, written speech is quite another. 
The moment talk is put into print you recognize that it is not 



USING LANGUAGE IN SPEECH 151 

what is was when you heard it; you perceive that an immense 
something has disappeared from it. That is its soul. You have 
nothing but a dead carcass left on your hands. Color, play of 
feature, the varying modulations of voice, the laugh, the smile, the 
informing inflections, everything that gave that body warmth, 
grace, friendliness, and charm, and commended it to your affection, 
or at least to your tolerance, is gone, and nothing is left, but a pallid, 
stiff, and repulsive cadaver. 

"Such is talk almost invariably when you see it lying in state in 
an ' interview.' The interviewer seldom tries to tell how a thing was 
said; he merely puts in the naked remark and stops there. When 
one writes for print, his methods are very different. He follows 
forms which have but little resemblance to conversation, but they 
make the reader understand what the writer is trying to convey. 
And when the writer is making a story, and finds it necessary to re- 
port the talk of his characters, observe how cautiously and anxiously 
he goes at that risky and difficult thing: 

'"If he had dared to say that thing in my presence/ said Alfred, 
taking a mock heroic attitude, and casting an arch glance upon the 
company, 'blood would have flowed.' 

"'If he had dared to say that thing in my presence,' said Hawk- 
wood, with that in his eye which caused more than one heart in 
that guilty assemblage to quake, 'blood would have flowed.' 

"'If he had dared to say that thing in my presence,' said the 
paltry blusterer with valor on his tongue and pallor on his lips, 
'blood would have flowed.' 

"So painfully aware is the novelist that naked talk in print con- 
veys no meaning, that he loads, and often overloads, almost every 
utterance of his characters with explanations and interpretations. 
It is a loud confession that print is a poor vehicle for ' talk,' it is a 
recognition that uninterpreted talk in print would result in con- 
fusion to the reader, not instruction. 

"Now, in your interview you have certainly been most accurate, 
you have set down the sentences I uttered as I said them. But 
you have not a word of explanation; what my manner was at several 
points is not indicated. Therefore, no reader can possibly know 
where I was in earnest and where I was joking; or whether I was 
joking altogether, or in earnest altogether. Such a report of a con- 
versation has no value. It can convey many meanings to the 
reader but never the right one. To add interpretations which would 
convey the right meaning is a something which would require — 



152 BETTER SPEECH 

what? An art so high and fine and difficult that no possessor of it 
would ever be allowed to waste it on interviews. 

"No; spare the reader and spare me; leave the whole interview 
out; it is rubbish. I wouldn't talk in my sleep if I couldn't talk 
better than that. If you wish to print anything, print this letter; 
it may have some value, for it may explain to a reader here and 
there why it is that in interviews as a rule men seem to talk like 
anybody but themselves. 

Sincerely yours, 
Mark Twain." 

How absurd then it is to say, " Writing is simply the record 
of talking!" 

IV. SOURCES OF DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN 
LANGUAGE AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE 

We have seen how different Speaking is from Writing. 
To anyone who thinks carefully, this difference is obvious. 
We are now to consider the less obvious, but none the less 
real, distinctions betweeen spoken language and written 
language. That differences exist is certain. To verify this, 
all that you need to do is to stop, look, and listen; to observe 
conversation and public address, and then compare them 
with literature, text-books, and the themes which your Eng- 
lish teacher marks "Excellent." Of course the language of 
speech and the language of writing will have certain elements 
in common. These we have already discussed. The impor- 
tant point to notice is that they may be very different and yet 
both may be proper and satisfactory, each in its own place. 

Before considering the differences let us ask and answer 
the question: Whence do they spring? There seem to be 
five sources: 

A. The speaker can see the effect of his words— the writer 
cannot. The speaker can watch those to whom he speaks. 
He can see when they agree with him and when they dis- 
agree; when they understand and when they are confused. 



USING LANGUAGE IN SPEECH 153 

In short, he can determine in large measure what are the 
immediate results of his language. The writer has nothing 
but his foresight and general good sense to tell him how his 
words will affect the reader. 

B. The reader can go back and re-read — the listener must 
get the meaning easily and at once. The writer knows that 
the reader can go at his own pace in getting the meaning from 
the written page. The speaker knows that the listener must 
get the meaning from language as it is spoken. 

C. The reader is generally less subject to distraction than 
is the listener. Most reading is done iu comparative quiet and 
seclusion. On the other hand, listening is usually done under 
conditions far less favorable for getting meanings from lan- 
guage — at least for concentrating on the job. This is espe- 
cially true in the case of public speeches where audiences are 
distracted by sounds, people moving, strange faces, etc., etc. 
When a reader has been distracted, he can go back and find 
his bearings, — re-reading if necessary. The listener has no 
such easy way of going back when his attention has wandered, 
— the language-sounds have passed beyond his reach; unless 
he is in a position to ask the speaker to repeat what he has 



D. Written language stands alone — spoken language is 
aided by voice and action. Spoken language has mighty 
helpers in stirring up meanings. Written language stands or 
falls on its own intrinsic merit. People who listen to spoken 
language get messages from the speaker 's posture, movement, 
gesture, rate of utterance, tone, inflection, and emphasis. The 
reader has none of these signs to help him in getting the 
meanings from language. 

E. Written language is seen — spoken language is heard. 
The reader gets his meanings through his eyes. The listener 
gets his meanings through his ears. Written language is 
light waves; spoken language is sound waves. Written 



154 BETTER SPEECH 

language is made with the arm and hand muscles or with a 
printing press; spoken language is made with the vocal 
apparatus. 

V. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SPOKEN LANGUAGE AND 
WRITTEN LANGUAGE 

Having seen why spoken language and written language 
must differ, let us now consider six principal differences 
which seem to exist: 

A. Frankness. What you write may mean something 
quite different from what you intend. You must be guarded 
and careful in your written language. You write, "I know 
you are perfectly honest," and the person to whom you write 
may take this as a subtle attempt to imply that it is quite 
doubtful whether he is honest or not. But if he heard you 
say it, he would know at once whether or not you meant it. 
The chances for misunderstanding are much greater in writ- 
ing than they are in talking. Consequently, we tend to be 
more reserved in the messages that we intrust to written 
language. In using spoken language, where we can correct 
wrong notions of our meaning in the mind of the listener, we 
can afford to be more frank. 

B. Formality. In conversation, you may say — if you 
use the right tones of voice, and the right facial expression, and 
the right gestures — "Why, old man, you're the best fel- 
low I know out of jail!" But in a letter this may be ex- 
ceedingly dangerous. You will probably have to be as 
formal as, "I would trust you implicitly." This matter of 
formality is closely connected with that of frankness and care 
in the choice of words. The point here is that spoken 
language is in most cases less formal than written language. 
Compare the two as you hear and see them. 

C. Care and Precision. So long as a word must have 
only one meaning on paper while it may mean a dozen things 



USING LANGUAGE IN SPEECH 155 

when spoken, there is bound to be less freedom in the use of 
written language than there is in the use of spoken language. 
The speaker decides what meanings his language shall 
carry. In writing, the reader himself comes near deciding 
the meanings. The writer's business is to choose his words 
as carefully as possible and to arrange them as precisely 
as he can; yet he must always realize that the reader is 
going to decide what the language means. The speaker 
can, without fear of ambiguity, use simple words which 
have many dictionary meanings, because voice and action 
make language mean pretty nearly what we want it to 
mean. 

The writer must be careful about the placing of words for 
emphasis. If he does not "place emphatic words in emphatic 
places," especially at the beginning and end of the sentences, 
the reader may not get his meaning. But the speaker can 
place the emphasis anywhere in the sentence by means of 
voice and action. He can force attention to any word or words 
he pleases. 

Re-read the last sentence aloud, placing the emphasis in 
turn upon "can," "force," " attention," "any," "word," 
words," "he," and "pleases." 

The speaker can use any easy, natural, and free order of 
words. 

D. Simplicity and Directness. For reasons which we 
have already discussed, spoken language must always have 
that quality which Phillips calls "instant intelligibility." It 
must be so simple and straightforward that the hearer will 
find it easy to grasp the meaning. In writing, we sometimes 
feel justified in using the words that are least ambiguous even 
though they may be long, clumsy words of Greek, Latin, or 
French derivation. When we have matters difficult to 
state accurately, we write long complex and compound 
sentences. The speaker, however, uses short Anglo-Saxon 



156 BETTER SPEECH 

words and simple, direct sentence structure. Only language 
which the listener can understand instantly can be effective in 
speech. 

E. Euphony. Spoken language is sound and it is very 
important that it shall stir up the right meanings. Any word 
or expression which strikes the ear as peculiar or unpleasant 
should be avoided. In discussing this matter Professor 
Shurter writes: "A sentence which cannot be easily pro- 
nounced, is a bad sentence and ought to be either thrown out 
or recast; for men are influenced not only by what is reason- 
able but also by what is agreeable. The way a sentence 
sounds depends both upon the choice and arrangement of 
words. Whatever words are difficult to pronounce are also 
unpleasant to hear, as smoothedst, inextricableness, excogitation, 
lowlily, arbitrarily, incalculable, meteorological, and in general 
those having either a repetition of syllables of similar 
sounds or a long succession of unaccented syllables. As 
to arrangement, words euphonious by themselves may 
displease the ear on account of the proximity to other words 
containing similar sounds as, his history, I can candidly say, 
I confess with humility my inability to decide, how it was was 
not explained. . . . Again, while a certain alliteration and 
rhythm is allowable, any suggestion of rhyme should be 
avoided as, then Robert E. Lee began to make history, avoid 
any appearance of incoherence, the sailors mutinied and set 
him afloat in an open boat. 11 * 

Why are these words and combinations of words to be 
avoided in spoken language? Is it because in some instances 
they are unpleasant to hear? Yes, but the real trouble is 
that for one reason and another, they all call attention to 
themselves and away from the meaning. They simply do not 
work as symbols. Some of them would not detract from the 
meaning in written language; none of them would be so bad, 
* Shurter, Rhetoric of Oratory, p. 148. 



USING LANGUAGE IN SPEECH 157 

but they are all unfit for use in spoken language where the 
question always is, How will the one to whom the words are 
spoken react to the sounds he hears? 

F. Attention Values. The problem of securing and 
holding attention is usually more immediate for the speaker 
than for the writer. He cannot afford to have any lapses in 
the attention of his listeners. We have seen that the strain 
of paying attention to spoken language is much more constant 
than that of reading from a printed page. Both written 
language and spoken language should be as interesting as 
possible. But a high degree of interestingness is generally 
more necessary in speaking than in writing. A reader, weary 
of a book, may lay it aside for a time and then take it up 
again. A listener must pay attention to the language while 
it is being spoken, or lose it forever. When attention has been 
lost, spoken language is so much empty sound. 

VI. LANGUAGE INFORMAL PUBLIC SPEECHES 

We should not be misled by " speeches" that we read 
in print. Almost always the language of them is very dif- 
ferent from the language that was actually used in the 
speech. Most public addresses that we get in school texts 
are at least third versions. First, there is the one the speaker 
prepares, second, the one he delivers, and finally, the one he 
revises for publication. What we read in the papers is 
generally something far different from the language used by 
the speaker. When a speaker gives out a copy of a speech 
for publication, he very naturally turns it into an essay to be 
read ; as far as possible he modifies the spoken language and 
changes it into written language. 

The speech that makes poor reading is often a great hit 
when heard and seen. Upon reading the language that was 
thus spoken, we frequently wonder how in the world any one 
could have become excited over that sort of stuff! On the 



158 BETTER SPEECH 

other hand, a speech that reads like a masterpiece may have 
put the audience to sleep when delivered. We are told that 
Burke's great essay on " Conciliation with America" was not 
effective when delivered to Parliament. The members who 
heard it voted it down. The majority left in the middle 
of it, preferring to read it next day. Charles James Fox, a 
contemporary of Burke, could induce Parliament to take 
almost any action; but when his speeches are read they seem 
to be of little worth. Burke's essays, on the other hand, 
when read are very powerful. This simply points to the fact 
that the meaning of language when written may be entirely 
different from that of the same language when spoken. 
This same principle applies to poetry. Poetry is sound 
waves, not light waves. A poem really exists only when it is 
being heard. The marks of print on the page of a book, 
sometimes called poetry, are merely directions for reproducing 
a poem, just as musical notes in the printed score are direc- 
tions for reproducing the composition. Good poetry is 
poetry that means what it was intended to mean only when 
vie hear it. No one ever saw a poem. The language of poetry 
and the language of oratory are alike in this respect : both are 
essentially constructed out of sound. Great oratory and great 
poetry sound very much alike. 

VII. ATTENTION VALUES IN SPOKEN LANGUAGE 

One most important object in choosing and arranging 
words for speech is to get favorable attention. If your language 
draws the attention of your audience to your thought, then it 
is good. So we now raise the question, How may we use 
language to get favorable attention? 

There are three main ways: 

A. By Vividness. 

B. By Economy. 

C. By Variety. 



USING LANGUAGE IN SPEECH 159 

A. Vividness 

Whatever is sharply outlined gets attention : bright colors, 
high lights, projecting points, sudden noises, the unexpected, 
things that prick and prod, a sudden blow. Words can be 
used to get just these effects, and when so used are especially- 
suited to speaking. 

1. Repetition. Saying the same thing over, in a different 
tone of voice: 

You can never, never, never, conquer them. 

2. Restatement. The same effect is gained by repeating an 
idea in different words: 

The United States is the friend of all nations. Our good will 
extends around the world; no one can call us enemy, and all are 
pleased to acknowledge kinship with us in purpose and ideals. 

3. Simile. You can brighten an idea by comparing it 
with something else that is already bright: 

A fatal habit settles upon one like a vampire, and sucks his blood. 

4. Metaphor. The same effect comes from an implied 
comparison: 

His mind was a vast store-house of knowledge. 

(Note that 3 and 4 are universally called " figures of 
speech") 

5. Personification. Vividness is given to an inert object by 
speaking of it as if it were living and active : 

Hope is swift, and flies on swallow's wings. 

6. The Historical Present. The past is more vivid for being 
thought of in the present: 

Imagine yourself in a Roman arena. The gladiators enter, the 
lions are let loose, the fight is on, blood flows, and the shrieks of 
dying men fill the air. 



160 BETTER SPEECH 

7. Hyperbole. An exaggeration extreme enough not to be 
misleading is vivid: 

His step shakes the world wherever he marches. 
He is so embarrassed that his face would scorch an iceberg 
brown in ten minutes. 

8. Irony. To say a thing in the very opposite words 
from its meaning attracts attention: 

Truly he is a very brave man. (Spoken of a coward.) 

(Note that this kind of meaning cannot so easily and viv- 
idly be put into print.) 

9. Innuendo. A statement with a sting in it attracts 
attention by its very sharpness: 

He did his party all the harm in his power: he spoke for it and 
voted against it. 

10. Exclamation. An exclamation is by its nature vivid, 
and so attracts attention: 

What a piece of work is man! 

11. Rhetorical Question. Asking a question in such a way 
as to reveal just how you would answer it, is a pointed way of 
getting attention to your statement: 

Do rocks melt with the sun? 

12. Climax. Making the language stronger and stronger 
gets attention to the idea: 

To weep for fear is childish; to weep for grief is human; to 
weep for compassion is divine. 

We grow daily stronger; braver, bolder, more irresistible. 

B. Economy 

Speaking without waste of words makes it possible to 
grasp the idea more quickly and surely. Thus economy is a 
vital principle in getting attention. 



USING LANGUAGE IN SPEECH 161 

13. Avoid Unnecessary Words. 

There were four men standing in the road. 
Revised : Four men were standing in the road. 

There are also a large number of Italians here. 
Revised: Also large numbers of Italians are here. 

Something dangerous threatened seriously to under- 
mine his health. 
Revised: Something threatened his health. 

14. Avoid Too Many Verbs. A verb is always important. 
To grasp its meaning requires exertion. Reduce the verbs and 
you get attention more easily: 

They did everything they were able to do. 
Revised: They did everything possible. 

He reminded me of a friend I once knew. 
Revised: He reminded me of a former friend. 

The giraffe will not stand being taken away from where 
it is raised. 
Revised: The giraffe will not stand removal from its native haunts. 

15. Use Words Accurately. Nothing is more distracting 
than trying to make out what a speaker's words mean: 
whereas when their meaning is clear, attention to the idea 
is gained immediately: 

The rise of kings is shown in the earliest pages of history. 
Revised: The rise of kings is shown in the earliest accounts of 
history. 

One of the most important pomte in his career was . . . . 
Revised: One of the most important events in his career was . . . . 

16. Put Important Words where they can easily be empha- 
sized. The first word spoken is easily heard; also the last, 
also a word out of its normal place: 

Duty did not hold for him the place that pleasure held. 
Revised: Duty did not hold for him the place held by pleasure. 

He went out. 

Revised: Out he went. 

or Out went he. 



162 BETTER SPEECH 

17. Keep Related Words Together. There is a loss of atten- 
tion when listeners cannot see at once the right way to con- 
nect relative words and phrases to the nouns with which they 
belong: 

Does a gentleman belong to your club with one eye named 
Walker? 
Have you any black children's mittens? 

18. Epigram. When you can say much in little, you can 
hold attention: 

The child is father to the man. 

There is a way of meeting error while on the road to truth. 

Blame is the price a man pays for being eminent. 

19. Antithesis. It is easier on the listener when you can set 
off one idea against another: 

He lived to die, and died to live. 

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy 
are deceitful. 

20. Balance. Balance is a matter of using the same struc- 
ture for the same kind of ideas. It helps greatly to make the 
meaning clear at once: 

The East is given to manufacturing, the Middle West to 
agriculture, and it is mostly mining in the West. 

Revised: The East is given to manufacturing, the Middle 
West to farming, and the West to mining. 

21. Direct Sentence Structure. The listener must grasp the 
meaning at once; he cannot go back as a reader can and pick 
up what he has lost. So sentence structure must be such as 
to make it easy for him to get the meaning as fast as the 
words are uttered. The majority of speech sentences are 
" simple," with only one subject and predicate and nothing 
out of its easiest order; as, 

The need of peace in felt throughout the world. 



USING LANGUAGE IN SPEECH 163 

Occasionally, however, there is a place for a "complex" 
sentence; as, 

Confronted with great difficulties, he yet pressed on to ultimate 
victory. 

Or a truly "involved" sentence finds place now and then: as, 

With three children to feed, and a sick wife, who was in reality a 
hindrance, yet with stout heart and firm determination, he set 
about to clear off the burden of debts, and, despite a gradually 
weakening body, finally saw himself victorious. 

Yet the majority of sentences in speech should be "straight 
away," "direct," "simple." 

C. Variety 

22. Use Variety in Words. Improper repetition in lan- 
guage calls attention to words and away from the thought. 

Late in life he began life in earnest. 
Revised : Late in life he began to live in earnest. 

Proper repetition for emphasis, especially in speech when 
the voice can make the necessary variety of changes, is, 
however, effective. 

Too late for love, too late for joy, 
Too late! Too late! 

Here each "too late" should be spoken in a different tone of 
voice to get the best attention to the thought. 

23. Variety of Idiom. Especially necessary for speech is a 
varied use of idiomatic language. An idiom is an accepted 
way of saying things, but a way that is not strictly grammati- 
cal: as, "in dead earnest," "beside himself," "for all of me," 
"out of luck," "all of a sudden." 

Such expressions are the very backbone of conversation and 
plain talk: so when you wish to sound genuine and convincing 
in speech, you must sprinkle your language with the idiom 
of daily talk, — without being slangy or ungrammatical. 



164 BETTER SPEECH 

If you are formal and formal only, you " smell of the lamp" 
and "sound bookish": 

He offered an argument that could not be disrupted by 
any known device of logic. 
Revised: He put up an argument that could not be broken down 
from any angle. 

EXERCISES 

A. Discuss the following paragraphs with reference to their 
fitness for speaking aloud, — which are "oral" in their quality and 
which "written"? 

(Test by reading aloud.) 

1. "Your pedestrian is always cheerful, alert, refreshed, with 
his heart in his hands and his hand free to all. He looks down 
upon nobody; he is on the common level. His pores are all open, 
his circulation is active, his digestion good. His heart is not cold, 
nor are his faculties asleep. He is the only real traveler; he alone 
tastes the gay, fresh sentiment of the road." 

John Burroughs. 

2. "It is strange that with all the succession of interesting novel 
experiences I had in Norway, there is none which stands out so 
clearly in my memory, after an interval of seven years, as a chance 
meeting with a Norwegian peasant one late afternoon as I pursued 
my way from Vossevangen to Eide. To give the setting I must 
begin at the beginning." 

W. L. Richardson. 

3. "Why I was christened Thomas Henry I do not know; but it is 
a curious chance that my parents should have fixed for my usual 
denomination upon the name of that particular apostle with whom 
I have always felt most sympathy. Physically and mentally I am 
the son of my mother so completely — even down to the movements 
of my hands, which made their appearance in me as I reached the 
age she had when I noticed them — that I can hardly find any trace 
of my father in myself, except an inborn faculty for drawing, which 
unfortunately, in my case, has never been cultivated, a hot temper, 
and that amount of tenacity of purpose which unfriendly observers 
sometimes call obstinacy." 

Thomas Henry Huxley. 



USING LANGUAGE IN SPEECH 165 

4. "Dear Madam: 
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement 

of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother 
of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel 
how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should 
attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. 
But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation which 
may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I 
pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your 
bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved 
and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so 
costly a sacrifice on the altar of freedom. 

Yours very sincerely and respectfully, 

Abraham Lincoln. 

5. "Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this 
congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of 
ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one 
or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light 
us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say 
that we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say 
this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do 
know how to save it. We — even we here — hold the power and 
bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure 
freedom to the free — honorable alike in what we give and what we 
preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last, best hope of 
earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is 
plain, peaceful, generous, just — a way which if followed, the world 

^^will forever applaud, and God must forever bless." 

Abraham Lincoln. 

6. "If it be affirmed that rime and metrical arrangement of 
themselves constitute a distinction which overturns what has just 
been said on the strict affinity of metrical language with that of 
prose, and paves the way for other artificial distinctions which the 
mind voluntarily admits, I answer that the language of such poetry 
as is here recommended is, as far as is possible, a selection of the 
language really spoken by men; that this selection, wherever it is 
made with true taste and feeling, will of itself form a distinction far 
greater than would at first be imagined, and will entirely separate 
the composition from the vulgarity and meanness of ordinary life; 



166 BETTER SPEECH 

and if meter be superadded thereto, I believe that a dissimilitude 
will be produced altogether sufficient for the gratification of a 
rational mind." 

Wm. Wordsworth. 

7. " Shakespeare was an intellectual ocean, whose waves touched 
all the shores of thought; within which were all the tides of destiny 
and will; over which swept all the storms of fate, ambition, and 
revenge; upon which fell the gloom and darkness of despair and 
death, and all the sunlight of content and love, and within which 
was the inverted sky, lit with the eternal stars — an intellectual 
ocean toward which all rivers ran, and from which now the isles 
and continents of thought receive their dew and rain." 

R. G. Ingersoll. 

8. "A man of breeding does not suppose himself to be either the 
sole or principal object of the thoughts, looks, or words of the 
company, and never suspects that he is either slighted or laughed at 
unless he is conscious that he deserves it; and if the company should 
be absurd or ill-bred enough to do either, he does not care two pence, 
unless the insult be gross and plain. As he is above trifles, he is 
never vehement and eager about them, and, wherever they are 
concerned, rather acquiesces than wrangles." 

Lord Chesterfield. 

9. "Critical efforts to limit art a priori, by anticipations regarding 
the natural incapacity of the material with which this or that artist 
works, as the sculptor with solid form, or the prose writer with the 
ordinary language of men, are always liable to be discredited by the 
facts of artistic production; and while prose is actually found to 
be a colored thing with Bacon, picturesque with Livy and Carlyle, 
musical with Cicero and Newman, mystical and intimate with Plato 
and Michelet and Sir Thomas Browne, exalted or florid it may be 
with Milton and Taylor, it will be useless to protest that it can be 
nothing at all, except something very tamely and narrowly confined 
to mainly practical ends — a kind of 'good round hand'; as useless 
as the protest that poetry might not touch prosaic subjects as with 
Wordsworth, or an abstruse matter as with Browning, or treat 
contemporary life nobly as with Tennyson." 

W. H. Pater. 



USING LANGUAGE IN SPEECH 167 

10. "When the gentle youth break out of the High School, they 
not only launch on the tempestuous sea, but they also begin to 
ascend the ladder of fame and climb the toilsome mountain side and 
go into the waiting harvest field, all at the same time." 

George Ade. 

11. "I would as soon think of bounding a sovereign state on the 
north by a dandelion, on the east by a blue-jay, on the south by a 
hive of bees in swarming time, and on the west by three hundred 
foxes with firebrands tied to their tails, as of relying upon the 
loose and indefinite bounds of commissioners of a century ago." 

Rufus Choate. 

12. "I would have you go out lovers of your speech. This is a 
time of philanthropists, but we do not need their riches to add to 
our common vocabulary. It is richer than that of many, of most, 
tongues, though we are most of us seemingly content with a very 
meager possession. But we do need philologists in the original 
meaning of that word, men in every walk of life who will use speech 
conscientiously, discriminatingly, intelligently, yet without pedantry 
or show." 

John H. Finley. 

, 13. " Readers of Carlyle's Journal may recall a certain passage 
written in October, 1841. Carlyle was then forty-five; it was seven 
years since he had come up from the Scotch moors to London; his 
own powers seemed ill adapted to his epoch and circumstances; 
'it is a strange incoherency this position of mine/ he writes — and 
then adds this flashing sentence : 'But what is life except the knitting 
up of Incoherences into coherence? Courage!'" 

Bliss Perry. 

14. "Toward the preservation of your government, and the per- 
manency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that 
you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowl- 
edged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of 
innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One 
method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the constitution, 
alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to 
undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes 
to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are 



168 BETTER SPEECH 

at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of 
other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by 
which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a 
country; that facility in changes upon the credit of mere hypothesis 
and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety 
of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that for the 
efficient management of your common interests, in a country so 
extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent 
with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable." 

George Washington. 

B. In the cases of the extracts above, which do you think would 
not speak well ? Rewrite, changing the language so that they will go 
effectively. Preserve the thought as nearly as possible. 

C. Give one-minute talks as follows: 

1. Restate the following topics in several ways: 

(a) Youth is the time of great promises. 

(b) The farmer is a free man. 

(c) We are at peace. 

(d) The world to-day is in a turmoil. 

(e) We are a nation of home lovers. 

2. On the following subjects use The Historical Present: 

(a) An automobile smash-up. 

(b) The charge across the river Marne at Chateau Thi- 

erry. 

(c) The winning touchdown. 

(d) A ninth inning rally. 

(e) The fall of a building on fire. 

(f) The finish of the mile run. 

(g) Receiving the election returns, 
(h) Getting that theme in on time, 
(i) How they broke jail. 

(j) The coming of the flood. 

3. Develop the following Figures of Speech; keep the same 

figure throughout: 

(a) Roosevelt was a young cyclone on a tear. 

(b) Washington was a solid rock in the midst of contend- 

ing storms. 

(c) The crowd celebrating our victory was a whirlpool of 

humanity. 



USING LANGUAGE IN SPEECH 169 

(d) Her voice is a saw-tooth file. 

(e) He mumbles like a bull frog. 

(f) Love is like measles. 

(g) Hope is a star. 

(h) The movies are mental hash, 
(i) Life is an empty dream, 
(j) That man is a cur. 

D. Use any themes or topics in the book for short talks: then 
criticise each other on the basis of Economy in the use of words : 

1. Avoiding unnecessary words. 

2. Avoiding too many finite verbs. 

3. Precision in use of words. 

4. Important words in important places. 

5. Keeping related words together. 

6. Use of epigram, antithesis, balance. 

E. Use three-minute talks as a basis for criticism of Variety. 

1. Change of sentence structure and length. 

2. Variety in synonyms. 

3. Variety of idioms. 

4. Long and short words. 



CHAPTER VI 
THINKING FOR SPEECH 

"Just at the age 'twixt boy and youth, 
When thought is speech, and speech is truth." 

Sir Walter Scott. 

"Eloquence is a painting of thoughts." 

Pascal. 

outline 

I. Improving Thinking for Speech. 

A. Observation. 

1. Training the Eye. 

(a) Colors and shades. 

(b) Shapes. 

(c) Size and distance. 

(d) Numbers. 

2. Training the Ear. 

(a) Hear your own voice. 

(b) Imitate other voices. 

(c) Sing. 

3. Training Taste and Smell. 

4. Training Touch. 

(a) Handle things. 

(b) Make distinctions with the hands. 

5. Training the Muscle Senses. 

(a) Be active. 

(b) Keep in good health. 

(c) Learn to do various things. 

(d) Have healthy emotions. 

B. Memory. 

1. Improving Associations. 

(a) In time. 

(b) In space. 

(c) By relationship. 

170 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 171 

2. Purpose to Recall. 

3. Live Alertly. 

4. Use the Whole Body in Recalling. 

C. Conviction. 

1. Be Definite. 

2. Wait for the Facts. 

3. Be ready to Change. 

4. Ferret out Prejudices. 

5. Study Lives of Great Men. 

D. Purpose. 

1. Purpose Clearly. 

2. Seek the Possible. 

3. Purpose High Things. 

E. Imagination. 

1. Toning Imagination Down. 

(a) Talk things over. 

2. Toning Imagination Up. 

(a) Be active all over. 

(b) Enjoy flights of fancy. 

F. Reasoning. 

1. Defining Terms. 

2. Making General Laws. 

3. Making Analogies. 

4. Explaining Causes. 

5. Predicting Results. 

I. IMPROVING THINKING FOR SPEECH 

We have told how the body and the voice play their 
parts in getting other people to think and feel the way one 
wishes them to. We have shown the part played by language 
and the use of words. Now we come to a study of how to 
improve thinking so we can use it to good effect while 
speaking. Action carries no worth-while messages unless it 
registers and stirs up thought; voice without carrying definite 
ideas and feelings is but useless noise; and language that is 
not a carrier of thought is but vain babbling. In the same 
way Thought that cannot get out by way of Words, Voice, and 



172 BETTER SPEECH 

Action is a sickly prisoner and worth nothing to the world. 
Next we study how Thinking can be improved. 

Do not forget that you already know how to think. The 
trouble is you do not always think clearly and effectively, and 
you do not always think properly for Speaking. To get 
other people to think your thoughts is a very special problem. 
What you are going to study here is how to improve your 
present thinking apparatus so you can use it to the best 
advantage in Speech. 

Learn to Analyze and Criticise your Thinking. Do you ever 
look your Thinking over to see if there is anything wrong 
with it? There is not one of us whose thinking does not 
need some mending. How can it be improved? There is 
only one sure method; know what the parts of it are, look 
over these parts, and then apply remedies to such parts as 
need attention. We shall here divide Thinking up into its 
parts, and shall show how each of the parts can be improved. 

The Parts of the Thinking Process. As has been pointed out 
in Chapter II, the main aspects of Thinking are these : 

1 . Observation; seeing, hearing, feeling. 

2. Memory; recalling past Observations. 

3. Belief; judgment, conviction, pet notions. 
4- Purpose; wishes, desires, wants, ambitions. 

5. Imagination; seeing things in new relations. 

6. Reasoning; solving problems. 

A. Observation 

How We Observe. Observations are made through the 
exercise of our several senses. How much do you know about 
your senses? How many are there? The traditional number 
is five: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. These all 
normal people have, and we know considerable about how 
they work. Yet a little study will show you many things 
about them that you do not know. Especially is this true of 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 173 

one sense that probably you have not heard much about, but 
a sense that is now known to be very, very important. It is 
the sense by which we know what our bodies are doing; 
the muscle sense. Somehow you can tell whether your arm 
is hanging at your side or held straight out or over your head; 
whether you are stooping or standing erect ; whether you are 
standing stiff or relaxed, whether you are straddling or bend- 
ing over or leaning sidewise. You know this because in your 
muscles (also in the tendons and joints) there are sense endings 
that do the very same thing for you that the ears and the 
eyes do; they tell you what is going on in their neighborhood. 
So when talking about your senses, be sure to add this muscle 
sense to the others. It is particularly important for matters 
pertaining to Speech. 

All our senses tell us things; the eye one thing, the ear an- 
other, the muscle sense another. What they tell us is the 
basis of Observation and the foundation of all thinking. All 
your knowledge goes back ultimately to what you have seen, 
Jieard, tasted, and felt. Your ability to think depends 
positively upon the excellence of your senses. The man who 
can see better than others has a better basis for certain 
kinds of thinking; the man of unusually good hearing can 
make Observations that others cannot make; the man whose 
muscles are alert and keen can think quicker and more 
alertly than those whose bodies do not know what they are 
doing. 

We Observe All Over the Body. Some people think that 
we do our Observing only with our heads. That is not true; 
we observe all over the body. Of course you can understand 
that ears and eyes and tongue and nose are observing for you 
constantly, and you know well that they are all in the head. 
But we do a vast amount of Observing below the chin. For 
we are able to observe in any part of the body where we can 
touch things with the skin, and wherever we have muscles. 



174 BETTER SPEECH 

Just because much of our learning happens in the head, it 
by no means follows that our Thinking is in our heads only; 
it is not. Thinking is all over the body. 

Your hands can observe for you and, to that extent, they 
think; you can shut your eyes, ears, and other head sense 
organs, and still know what your hand is writing, what it 
is picking up, what it is rubbing over; all done by the touch 
and muscle senses. You can tell when you are walking or 
standing still, when you are bowing or standing up, when you 
have your weight on your right foot or on your left foot, 
all without the sense organs of the head. 

On a bicycle, you can tell when you are going around a 
corner. You can feel your way through a dark room full of 
furniture; you know just how far to jump to clear a fence or a 
ditch; your hands carry your fork to your mouth and no 
farther — fortunately; you can shut your eyes, reach out 
till you gropingly touch a wall, and then get the distance 
right without looking or groping; you can tell whether your 
body is in the right position for putting the shot, pitching a 
baseball, making a drop kick, serving a reverse cut, teeing off, 
pitching a fork of hay to the top of the load, or threading a 
needle. 

Your body, and your whole body, is your observer. Re- 
member this; it is very important for all activities in life; 
you observe all over your body. Hence you think all over and 
not in just one place. And you do it all the time; for every 
time you move your body you are moving muscles and these 
muscles are observing. It is because of these constantly- 
observing muscle senses that your Thought is continuous; it 
can go on when the eyes are shut, when the ears and other 
senses of the head are not working. Always your body is 
observing through the muscle senses. 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 175 



HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR POWERS OP OBSERVATION 

How can you sharpen your powers of Observation? 
What is usually meant by "Sharpening your wits"? Well, 
to tell the truth, it cannot always be done; all the training in 
the world cannot make thinkers out of idiots or the hope- 
lessly feeble-minded. They are not "all there," and have not 
the stuff with which to do real observing. But those of us 
who can observe clearly enough so that our friends can trust 
us out on the street, or with a knife and fork, have enough to 
work on! 

There are very definite things that can be done to improve 
observation. 

1. Training the Eye 

(a) Learn to name colors and to distinguish as many shades 
and tints as possible. This may sound odd, but you will 
discover that by trying this you sharpen your wits in many 
ways at the same time. One thing you will discover is 
that to be able to name a large number of colors, shades and 
tints, you need to be able to talk about them; to give them 
names, or numbers. Possibly some of you can remember 
kindergarten days when you "played" with different colored 
yarns or with cards of different shades. Then you learned the 
names of each. That was training in observation. Try to 
see new things you have never noticed before, and find the 
names that go with them, tag them, and you have done two 
valuable things to help your Thinking; you have made sure 
that you have observed them, and you have made it possible 
to use your observation, through speech, in your other think- 
ing processes. 

(b) Be sure to see things in their right shape. You would 
be surprised to know how people differ in their ideas as to the 
shape of things. You will notice that a table is a different 



176 BETTER SPEECH 

shape according to whether you are looking down upon it, 
up at it, from near, or from the distance. A large percentage 
of the differences of opinion (Thinking) which people have, 
arises from the fact that they do not see things the same 
way; and often enough in this matter of shape. Get a 
company of people to tell what shapes they see in clouds or 
in the wall paper, and notice how they disagree. Yet these 
things can be seen in definite forms that will measure out 
by a ruler. Get as near as possible to stating your ideas of 
shapes correctly. 

(c) Observe Size and Distance with Care. Ask five people 
how large the moon is when it is full. One will tell you it is 
as large as a dinner plate; one, as large as a wash tub; one, as 
large as a silver dollar; and another, as large as a water tank! 
Well, what is the size of the moon? A relative matter, of 
course. To be a keen observer of size, know how far away 
the object is, how near to other objects. In any case re- 
member that to talk about the size of the moon you have 
to do something more than look in the moon's direction; 
you must take other objects into account. Practice in this 
sort of thing is good practice in observation, learning to tell 
things apart. 

EXERCISES 

1. Set a book on end on a table and then go across the room and 
mark on the door the height of the book. 

2. Which is higher, the tallest factory chimney or the tallest 
church steeple in your town? 

3. How high is fifty feet? as high as your school house? or as the 
second story of the building? 

4. How many round objects are there in the room where you 
are? 

5. Is a railroad engine as long as your dwelling? 

6. Is a Ford car with its top up higher than a street car roof? 

7. Who rides higher in a railroad train, the engineer or the 
passengers? 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 177 

8. Does a room look larger when empty or when full of furniture? 

9. Which of these lines is longer? 

> < 

< > 

(d) Be Accurate in Counting. A small boy tells about "a 
thousand dogs" running down the street; then he reduces it 
to fifty; next insists that there must have been twenty, and 
upon an accurate count finds out that there are nine. Inac- 
curacy in numbers is one of the commonest forms of poor 
Observation. Numbers play a very important part in our 
Thinking, but about them we are strikingly careless. Just 
to suggest that there are many things of this kind we do 
not notice, answer these questions: 

How many steps lead up the front door of the school house? 

How many seats are there in your "home" room? 

How many teachers are there in your school? 

How many cousins have you? 

Which has the larger number of students, your first class of the 
day or your second? 

How many aldermen or commissioners has your city? or how 
many supervisors are there in your county? 

2. Training the Ear 

(a) Listen to Your Own Voice. A good way to try out the 
accuracy of your ear is to notice what your own voice does. 
Find out whether it goes up or down, or both, and on which 
syllables it goes up and on which it goes down. Observe 
whether you talk on a high pitch or a low; how loud you are; 
whether you are smooth-voiced or rough. Listen to see if 
you pronounce words the way others do; notice how they 
sound their vowels and consonants, and what their voices 
are like for pitch, loudness, speed, and smoothness. 

(b) Imitate Sounds from a Phonograph. Listen to a talk- 
ing record on the phonograph and see how well you can make 



178 BETTER SPEECH 

the same kind of sounds. Can you laugh like the funny 
man? growl like the man who is acting the part of one 
angry? simper like the sweet young thing? Can you tell 
when their voices go up and when down? Slow down the 
record and notice the slides and pauses and prolongations 
of the sounds. All this is the best of ear training, both for 
general Observation and for speech training. 

(c) Sing. Singing is good training for the ear. In reality 
you cannot sing unless you can hear. Singing without trained 
ears is not possible. Singing will help you work up a wider 
range of pitch, a better smoothness to your voice, and better 
breath control. But you cannot make progress in it until 
your ear tells you the truth about what the voice is doing. 

3. Training Taste and Smell 

A trained sense of taste is very important indeed for health 
and happiness in life, but it does not have a very close con- 
nection with better speaking; so we need pay no special at- 
tention to it here. Yet to be a better thinker and doer, 
cultivate the ability to discriminate tastes. As you grow 
older you will find delight in being able to discriminate 
between different kinds of food, different types of the same 
kind; while to have a keen sense of smell marks one as being 
in the way to enjoy delights that others must miss. Any 
addition you make to your ability in discriminating differ- 
ences through any sense organ, is so much added to your 
powers of observation. 

4. Training Touch 

(a) Handle All Sorts of Things. You do an amazing 
amount of thinking with your hands. Blind men and deaf 
men by training their touch can perform what seems like 
miracles; simply because they work at it. Shakespeare 
puts the case for them when he says, 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 179 

"Dark night that from the eye his function takes 
The ear more quick of apprehension makes." 

Many boys and girls are too fortunate in not having to 
struggle to learn the use of their hands. They have every- 
thing done for them, and get lazy. The unfortunate blind 
man learns to get about by sense of touch; the deaf man 
sharpens his eyesight and studies faces and lips. Let those 
especially who feel that they "do not have to work with 
their hands" look to it to see that they give themselves this 
very fundamental training in thinking that comes with 
trained hands. Make your hands busy handling things. 
A characteristic picture of the feeble-minded person is one 
sitting with folded hands; useless. 

(b) Practice Making Distinctions with the Hands. Try 
feeling your way through a room by your hands; it helps 
sharpen your wits. Pick up all kinds of objects with the 
eyes shut and tell what they are. Feel various kinds of cloth 
and tell what material and weave they are. Get a "feeling 
acquaintance" with stuffs and fabrics. Helen Keller can 
read talk by placing her hands on another person's larynx 
and lips. 

5. Training the Muscle Senses 

(a) Be Active. Training the muscles is one of life's most 
important tasks. If you are a "live one," and not a "dead 
one," you must have trained muscles, all over the body. 
Sluggish people never can think well; the best thinkers are 
usually well-muscled and they use about all the muscles 
they have. People who were once mild little boys and girls, 
not doing anything very actively, and who have grown up the 
sitting kind, are not keen thinkers. Sometimes they can 
get on by limiting themselves to one kind of thinking, like 
writing verse or playing bridge or manipulating the stock 



180 BETTER SPEECH 

market; but in general their thinking does not prepare them 
to fit into life in the large and to enjoy it. They are at least 
one-sided thinkers, with crotchets, mental twists, and pecu- 
liarities; they are always "odd." 

If you wish to find a good type of man almost anywhere 
and under almost any circumstances, take the man who has 
been active in bodily work and athletics all his life and has 
at the same time studied hard and read widely. You will 
always find a fine type of person in the athlete who likes 
books and study and experimentation. 

(b) Keep in Good Health. How often do you find a chronic 
sick person who is really a valuable thinker? Once in a while 
you will encounter such a one. He is just like the blind man 
who learns to walk about with a cane; he makes himself 
overcome his trouble. And that is most noble. But all of 
us, when we get sick enough, do not care to think hard, and 
cannot if we would. Why? Because our muscles have 
much to do with how hard and straight we can think, so 
that when they get flabby under sickness, they do not tell 
their part of the story in the process of Thinking. Man is 
pretty badly lost as a knower and observer when he loses 
control of his muscles. Notice how distracting it is when 
your arm "goes to sleep;" just your arm! 

(c) Learn to Do Various Things. Be handy; active of leg 
and back; working all over and all in one piece. Why do so 
many country boys do well in intellectual pursuits in city 
life? They have learned to use their arms and legs and 
backs and hands. City boys who do not work with hands, 
backs, and legs have to engage in plenty of athletic sports 
to keep from developing flabby thinking apparatuses. Those 
who just "hang around" are as good as lost, for it takes 
thinking to get anywhere nowadays, and the one who grows 
up inactive and lazy simply cannot know the things that 
come to those who use all the body they are endowed with. 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 181 

So anything you can do well, when it is done whole-heartedly, 
will help your powers of Observation and your Think- 
ing. Manual training, sewing, tennis, golf, work in a factory 
or on a farm, setting-up exercises, drills, dancing, gymnastic 
training, football, and baseball — all these help make the 
body a trained and competent Observer. 

(d) Have Healthy Emotions. Much of the vigor and 
strength of your Thinking depends upon the kind of emo- 
tional experiences you have; your joys and sorrows, delights 
and regrets, likes and dislikes, loves and hatreds, yearnings 
and aversions. These same emotional experiences always 
mean that you are exercising many of your muscles, thus 
giving yourself sense impressions from the muscles. Some 
emotions make you healthy; others make you dull, over- 
wrought, or sluggish. Keep the better, happier, cleaner 
emotions in the ascendency, and you will find your Thinking 
more to the liking of your own conscience. 

B. Memory 

Observations are the begin aing of Thinking and knowing. 
But they do not help much unless we can store them up and 
use, not only those of the present, but those of the past. 
This we do by Memory. Memory is the using of past Ob- 
servations. Without Observations we cannot get started 
on Thinking; without Memory we cannot keep it up. So 
to be a thinker of any power at all you must have a good 
Memory. 

Some people say that Memory cannot be improved. That 
is true; yet not true. There is no such thing as Memory that 
works in you apart from the rest of you; what we are really 
talking about is memories, individual recollections of this, 
that, and a thousand other individual Observations. You 
cannot improve the Memory because there is no such thing 
as the Memory to improve. But you have hordes of separate 



182 BETTER SPEECH 

memories, and you can (1) add to the total supply of these 
and you can (2) so observe that you will better remember 
what you experience. 

MULTIPLYING MEMORIES 

Obviously the very first necessity for having plenty of 
Memories is to have made plenty of Observations. If you 
cannot, will not, and do not make Observations, don't 
worry about Memories; you will not have any. In fact you 
won't have enough mind to worry with. It is only the 
observers who get on in school and in life. So take the ex- 
ercises on Observation seriously and see what is in the world 
around you. 

1. Improve Association of Ideas 

Do you know how you remember? It is rather simple; 
"one thing recalls another," which means that what you see 
or hear or feel recalls something like it in the past. This is 
what is called Association of Ideas. Without Association of 
Ideas there can be no memories; for unless present Observa- 
tion brings up Observations from the past, you cannot recall. 
There is no reservoir, no bank on which to draw, except in a 
figurative way of speaking. What actually happens is that 
something you observe now is like something you have 
observed before, and the present Observation causes you to 
observe again the Observation from the past. It is actually 
reproduced; you actually do it over again. 

These Associations come in trains or chains; they are bonds 
with the past. They come to you from a present experi- 
ence, which may be a sound, a sight, a smell, a bodily posi- 
tion, something said or read or thought. To note how this 
works, perform the following experiment: 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 183 



EXERCISE 

1. Start with the word man and without pausing to worry about 
what you are doing, and without any strain over the matter, set down 
on paper the first ten words that "pop into your head." These will 
be a Train of Associations. You cannot always discover how you 
got from one word to the next, but in every possible case there is 
some associational train that led you on. 

2. Write the first ten words suggested by each of these words: 



fire 


love 


home 


velvet 


fight 


dance 


beefsteak 


roses 



You will discover that you make some rather odd chains; but 
whatever they are, they will be a kind of record of your past observa- 
tions. 

(a) Association by Position in Time 

The easiest kind of Association Chains are those made 
about things that are placed next each other in time or in 
space. If I say Friday, it is easy for you to think of Saturday; 
if you think of what happened last night, you can then better 
remember what happened yesterday afternoon, and having 
remembered that you can recall the events of that morning. 
What happened last week helps bring back what happened 
the week before. If you can recall where you were last 
January, you have a better chance of making out what you 
did last Washington's Birthday. This is a very common 
kind of Memory, by Observations connected in Time. 

EXERCISE 

1. What men's names are suggested to you by the year 1066? 

2. What event is suggested indirectly to you by the date 1490? 

3. Go back in thought to a week ago; find one thing you did that 
day, and with this as a starting point name 10 acts of that day. 

4. Write down ten events of the tenth year of your life; find 
one to start with and note how it leads to others. 

6. Give the details of a picnic a year ago; of a trip to a circus; 



184 BETTER SPEECH 

of a party of last winter. Find a starting point and work out the 
details from that as a base. 

6. Recall a face; write down six incidents that the memory of it 
brings up. 

(b) Association by Position in Space 

When you have ever observed two things side by side, 
you can always recall one of them more easily by recalling 
the other. We get these side-by-side Observations chiefly 
from three senses; sight, touch, and muscle activity. They 
are very common, giving us a decided majority of our Ob- 
servations; inasmuch as most of what we know first-hand 
comes from seeing, touching, and bodily action. Recollec- 
tion of things that we once perceived together is so easy and 
common that it is the kind that the feeble-minded can use, 
and about the only kind. So if you cannot associate and 
remember by chains of things together in space, you are 
really pretty bad off. 

EXERCISES 

1. Recall a body of water; what else do you see? Write a list of 
twenty objects. 

2. Recall a face; describe the clothes that went with it. 

3. Start at any point in a remembered panorama or landscape 
view; add the other details; note how you move by nearness in space. 

4. Start the first bar of a tune; note how easy it is to go on with 
the song. Try to sing it backwards by bars or phrases. 

5. Try to stop chewing candy or gum once you have started to 
eat or to chew. 

6. Wind up for pitching a baseball and note how much easier 
it is to throw than to stop. Get ready to serve a tennis ball, say 
"thirty all" and notice how hard it is not to continue serving the 
ball. 

7. Shut your eyes and feel of things on your desk; what you 
touch will tell you where other things are. Each new touch will give 
you more associative memories. 

8. Playing the piano or writing on the typewriter, as soon as 
your hands locate a given note or letter, you know where the others 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 185 

are. Study this to see how it is done, and to find out how alert 
you are. 

9. Practice remembering more observations from each thing you 
recall in sight, in the motion of your muscles, and in the sense of 
touch. Make longer and longer lists. Learn also to do this quickly 
and without hesitation. Also learn to pick the things most worth 
while, the beautiful, the useful, the helpful, the rich and valuable. 

(c) Association by Relationship 

The other kind of Associative chain, the kind that be- 
speaks the best mind, is that by Likenesses and Differences. 
This is the basis of your deepest Thinking. If you cannot 
remember things in this way, you need some hard work in 
Observation of something other than the obvious. If I say 
"bread" and you say " butter," or if I say " yesterday" 
and you say "today and forever," or if I say "Mutt" and 
you say "Jeff," there is no evidence of very great thinking 
power there. That is the commonest and cheapest kind of 
association; association by similar sounds. If I say "white" 
and you say "black" or if "tall" brings "short," or "dark" 
brings "light," that is a bit better; contrasts are not so easy 
to make as the mere going on with similar sounds as in 
"yesterday — today and forever." Yet it is still easy and 
cheap Thinking. 

The really hardest kind of Association, and the most 
valuable kind of remembering is that by Likeness. Examples 
will illustrate this; the term by itself does not mean much. 
Note these illustrations: 

If I say "great" and you say "Napoleon," there are two 
or three links in the chains involved, and that is to your 
credit ; you are a faster and richer thinking machine than the 
man who can only say "Csesar" — "Great Caesar." 

If I say "Napoleon" and you come back with "Bona- 
parte," that is less to your credit than to be able to remember 
next, "Austerlitz" or "Waterloo" or "Wellington." Better 



186 BETTER SPEECH 

yet if it makes you think of " empire," " power/' "how are 
the mighty fallen." These represent jumps, relationships, 
the use of two or more links not mentioned. This ability 
to bridge gaps is the most valuable kind of memory. 

If I say "Rah, rah," and you think only of the rest of a 
football yell that contains it, that is less to your credit than 
if you think of the moment of victory at some previous 
triumph or of the need of getting up a mass meeting to 
back the team. 

EXERCISE 

Use the following words as the basis for associative trains; after 
each word write out ideas that it calls up, especially ideas that are 
connected as those in the examples above. 

i-boat whistles, 
Washington at 



For example: river; 


skating, 


ice-boats, stea 


boating 


parties, Congressional 


appropriations, 


Trenton. 










ghosts 




brotherhood 




bread 




Washington 




virtue 




fear 




war 




thinking 



2. Observe with the Intention of Telling About it 

Tightening associations thus helps Memory. Practising 
recall and widening associative steps help also. Another 
aid now is to plan to talk about the things to be remembered. 
If you will but make up your mind that you are not going 
to let this or that slip, you will find that it comes back more 
easily and surely. When seeing or hearing or feeling some- 
thing that you hope you will not lose for the future, say to 
yourself, "I will remember that." Then go right over in 
mind the process of seeing it or hearing it or re-enacting it. 
This will always add to the likelihood of getting it back when 
you want it. 

The very best way of all for doing this is to talk about the 
thing you are planning to remember. Tell somebody about 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 187 

it. Even better yet, write about it; put it into a letter or a 
theme. Things you clinch that way are pretty likely to 
stay with you. You can even do your memory a world of 
good by talking it over with yourself. Your thinking is but 
a kind of inner talking to yourself anyway; so get the habit 
of "going over it in your mind" by means of this silent 
speech to yourself. It is one of the surest ways of remember- 
ing. Use it freely. 

3. Live Alertly and all Over the Body 

Your most vivid recollections, without exceptions, are 
those of things that occured to you when you were excited, 
angry, frightened, exalted, or in some other kind of intense 
emotional state. Emotional memory is the one best kind. 
Go back in your memory to the very earliest recollections 
you have; they will invariably be something that came 
when you were excited; when you were very much wrought 
up all over the body; something into which you plunged or 
were plunged with every limb, muscle, and part of the 
body alertly active; when you trembled all over, strained 
eagerly all over, were glad all over, were hot or cold all 
over, or were "completely absorbed" with what you were 
doing. 

The only way to use this circumstance to help your Mem- 
ory is to be a "live one" now while you are yet young. It 
is the active boy or girl who has the best basis for remember- 
ing; the poky, lazy ones have troubles when trying to use 
their past profitably. They remember for the most part 
only troubles and slights; such experiences are emotional, and 
are remembered. But they cannot remember the lively, 
happy things of their past, because they have not deeply 
experienced them. 



188 BETTER SPEECH 

4. Recall by Using the Whole Body 

Have you ever studied the way you bring things back to 
mind? It will pay you to watch yourself. This is the chief 
point to note; The more you use your whole body in trying to 
recall something, the better your chance of success. Just watch 
somebody trying hard to remember. He will lift his head, 
then turn it this way and that, then sit back or lean forward, 
then twist and squirm in his seat, then shift his feet and kick 
around with them, and finally will get up and even pace the 
floor. 

Our difficult remembering we do in just that way. What 
is more, you will notice while you are trying to remember, 
that you harden almost all your muscles; head, neck, arms 
and hands, back, trunk, and legs. Most especially you 
can feel the heavy, tight feeling around the abdomen. All 
this is part of the attempt to bring back the muscular position 
in which you were when you did the thing to be recalled. At 
the time of doing it the first time, your muscle senses observed 
how you did it or how you sat when you heard it or stood 
when you saw it, and they remember. If, now, in the at- 
tempt to recall you get your body in something of the same 
position as before, you have a better chance to bring back 
the past event. That is just why we squirm, twist, and pace 
the floor in order to remember. 

This fact is particularly valuable to the public speaker. 
When he forgets what he intended to say, his best cure is to 
move about on the platform, while the very worst thing he 
can do is to stand still getting more frightened and farther 
removed from the chance to remember. You have noticed 
speakers pull out a handkerchief, affect to cough into it, step 
about a bit, clear their throats, repeat what they have just 
said — and then catch the thing they were hunting their 
mind for. That is the right way to do it. Standing still only 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 189 

makes it more and more impossible to get the body in the 
right position for remembering; moving about gives you a 
chance to get into the right bodily position. 

EXERCISE 

1. Name an event in history the date of which does not come 
to you readily; make an effort to recall; note how you do it. 

2. Try to recall a tune. If you have trouble, arise, walk, and 
try to catch the rhythm. If you can catch it, note what it does to 
your recall of the tune and the words. 

3. Recall how it feels to row a boat; do it first sitting limp, then 
tensing the muscles that one uses in rowing. 

4. Recall the face of one with whom you have argued; stand up 
in an energetic position as a man would when arguing; note the 
effect upon your memory. 

5. Learn a poem to recite, just well enough so that you can barely 
get through with it; sit while you learn. Then note how much effort 
and time it takes to recall it accurately. 

6. Learn another poem; this time do it while standing up and 
walking about. Recite it first sitting, then walking, and note the 
different effects. 

7. Study a language lesson sitting down all the time, and take 
note of how well or how poorly you get it and how well or poorly 
you can recite or translate. Then learn an equal amount standing 
up, and note the difference. 

8. Read equal amounts of translation; do one by yourself sitting, 
the other talking it over with another person. Note the difference 
in your ability to recall next day. 

C. Conviction 

Observe and Remember. If Observation is the basis of 
knowledge and thinking, and if Memory is the means of 
using both past and present, then clearly your Beliefs and 
Convictions rest upon observing well and remembering 
clearly. There will be little for you in this section if you are 
a poor observer and an inaccurate rememberer. 

Learn from Everything. This is a large world and full of 
interesting things; he is a poverty-stricken person who does 



190 BETTER SPEECH 

not know how to get rich with knowledge, experience, and 
truth. You are here to learn; learn little and be wretched, 
learn much and be happy. 

Books provide much knowledge; read many and all kinds. 
School gives you a start toward thinking and learning; get 
all you can of it. Life teems with lessons; learn them. Listen 
to the sages, but talk with little children; read what men have 
written, but read the deeper lessons that lie in the trees and 
the waters and the skies; meditate in the night watches, 
but be in and even of the world of men and affairs and action 
and struggle. When Wordsworth at the breaking of the 
French Revolution said, 

11 Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, 
But to be young was very Heaven," 

he meant not only the stirring days of the new freedom for 
mankind, but he meant the eternal opening out of youth 
into the delights of manhood and womanhood. To be young 
in any age is to have the chance to learn, and that is the 
most heavenly heaven of all. 

1. Be Definite; Commit Yourself 

What we mean by the " spineless' ' man is the poor worm 
who has no opinions, who knows nothing for sure, and who 
is always certain the other man must be right, that if he him- 
self thinks a thing there can't be much in it. Manhood is, 
from one point of view, synonymous with having real opin- 
ions with a bone up their backs. Says Emerson, "To believe 
your own thought, to believe what is true for you in your 
private heart, is true for all men — that is genius. Speak 
your latent conviction and it shall be the universal sense." 
We cannot all be geniuses — that would be rather hard on 
the world — but we can all believe our own honest thoughts. 

So one of the first things to do to improve conviction — if 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 191 

you need to improve it — is to take a definite stand on the 
things that concern your life. Be able to take sides on im- 
portant matters of everyday living. Decide what moral 
standards are best; don't shilly-shally over that matter. De- 
cide what heroes you will follow; don't separate yourself from 
some guiding influence. Know what you believe about your 
relations to your fellow man; don't drift in your social life. 
Make up your mind as to what sort of achievements are most 
worth while in life; don't wait for accident to decide your fate. 

2. Wait for the Facts 

Yet this advice must be applied with discretion and good 
sense. Wait till you are sure of your facts; and don't invent 
your facts to prove your preconceived notions. Some boys — 
and some girls — make themselves rather ridiculous (and this 
includes boys and girls of all ages) by making up their minds 
on all sorts of questions before they have been exposed to the 
facts in the case; and then, having committed themselves, 
they turn around and make up "facts" to defend their 
position. 

One of the queerest things about this queer human race is 
the way men spend their lives trying to defend their mistakes. 
Some unlucky day they commit themselves before their little 
world; they say, Thus it must be! This is the law! I know all 
about it! Listen to the mouthpiece of Truth! And there 
they stand committed; sometimes stark naked — as to facts to 
cover them. So what do they do? Well, the weak ones of 
this type have only one way out. The strong ones have the 
grace to say, " I was mistaken," but not the others. It was of 
them that someone said, "Whom the gods would destroy 
they first make mad." The man who must always be 
right, who cannot know the comfort of acknowledging now 
and then that he may possibly be wrong, thinks he must 
scour the ends of the earth, not to find the facts, but to defend 



192 BETTER SPEECH 

his past position. He always ends by being more sure 
than ever that he is right, and is believed by no one but those 
as blind as he. He is the man who offers, not reasons, but 
excuses. While you are yet young, learn to find the facts. 

EXERCISE 

1. State your preference for a political party; how did you come 
by it? from facts, or from inheritance, or association? 

2. Do you like or dislike the governor of your state? Why? 
How much is your opinion based upon facts and how much upon 
feelings? or hearsay? 

3. Do you like to read Shakespeare? If not, are you sure you 
have given Shakespeare a trial? Are you sure you are not merely 
revealing your own laziness? Look up the facts. 

4. Do you prefer one daily newspaper to others? If so, on what 
do you base the preference: better news service, better type and 
form, more intelligent and enlightened political opinions, or just 
because your family has always taken it? Study the paper care- 
fully and see if it is what you say to yourself you have always thought 
it to be. What are the facts? 

5. Which is true: We need heavier taxes; we need lighter taxes? 
Why? Are you merely echoing popular phrases? What facts can 
you discover? 

3. Be Ready to Change Opinion 

Habitual Thinking. "It is a present custom for members 
of the English Parliament to bow three times before taking 
their seats. An American, mystified by this strange custom, 
inquired the reason for it. He was astonished to find the 
Englishmen could not tell him. But after much research the 
mystery was cleared away. The buildings of Parliament had 
once burned, and the members were quartered for a period 
in St. Stephen's Chapel. Having the altar of the church 
before them, they made the customary bow to Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost. When they moved into their present abode 
they did not take the altar with them, but they kept on bow- 
ing nevertheless." 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 193 

Fickleness in opinion is no particular virtue; but neither is 
setness of opinion. The old adage has it, "It is only the fool 
who never changes his mind," and there is much in it. It is a 
blessed and happy privilege to be able to acknowledge one's 
mistakes and to try again to capture the elusive goddess 
Truth. Emerson, who exemplified beautifully his own 
teaching, tells us, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of 
little minds." Nothing is more silly than a young person who 
knows he has to be right about everything. School-boy 
epithets about the state of his head are none too severe; al- 
most any hard name does him no injustice. Even in our 
elders a cement-set state of mind is neither comfortable to 
one's friends, profitable to oneself, nor of aid to the com- 
munity. "Hardshells" are not good for this world as we 
know it. 

So there you have it: Be not too positive nor yet too un- 
certain. There is no perfect rule. The thing that will help 
you most to improve your powers of Conviction and Belief 
is to keep an open mind, listen much to people who know 
more than you, read widely and well, talk enough to keep in 
practice, and know that there is an ocean of Truth in this 
universe which no one person can encompass. But still 
" Speak your latent conviction." Speaking it will do you 
good on two counts: First, it will help you clarify your ideas; 
and, secondly, it will set the pack of the world's truth-seekers 
at your heels. 

EXERCISE 

1. Make an inventory of real convictions you are prepared to 
back up with facts. 

2. Find some prejudices that are based upon your wants and 
wishes, and not upon facts. 

3. When you hear others talking observe which of their beliefs 
are crotchety prejudices, and which are the result of gathering facts. 

4. In the following passage which statements do you believe? 
Why? Which do you reject? Why? 



194 BETTER SPEECH 

(a) "We (the American People) have never sought and never 
will seek to build ourselves up by trying to pull others down. We 
are not seeking for new territory; but the events of the past few years 
have forced this country to the front, and we are today one of the 
great world powers. There is no danger of any power attacking 
us by land, for there is no power on the face of the globe that could 
for one moment maintain a footing on American soil. The danger, 
if any there be, will come from the sea, and it seems to me that it is 
clearly our duty to be in a constant state of preparation. We can 
assemble in a comparatively short time a million or more fighting 
men, but we cannot improvise fleets, we cannot improvise officers 
and crews, nor can we improvise ammunition. It is necessary, 
therefore, that we always be prepared, for a well-equipped and 
well-manned navy is the surest guarantee of peace, and the safest 
and surest that this nation can have." 

(b) "Toil must be taught in the home and in the school. The 
editor of the 'Ladies' Home Journal' or some other ladylike man 
may write an editorial telling you that you are working your pupils 
too hard, but for every boy who has broken down from over study 
there are half a dozen who have broken down from over tobacco. 
And for every girl who has broken down through overstudy there 
are half a dozen who have broken down through over society, over- 
dress, and late hours — trying to be women before they are through 
being girls." 

4. Ferret out your Prejudices 

Everybody has prejudices; we could not get along well 
without them. They seem to be a part of the backbone of 
our Thinking. We cannot know all the truth, yet we need 
some kind of principles and convictions to go on; we cannot 
live without steam in our mental boiler or guide posts to 
our way-faring feet; and our convictions — including our 
prejudices — are just these things: steam or guide posts, as 
you please to view them. They not only keep us going but 
they give us a definite direction. So, being unable to know 
all there is to know, we pick on such convictions as suit us 
and then go ahead, for weal or woe. 

A prejudice may be defined as a belief or conviction 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 195 

(sometimes thought of as "what I know to be so") for which 
your reasons are wishes rather than facts. All of us believe 
what we want to, if we want to hard enough. Everyone 
wants to believe that his family and friends are as good as 
anybody, and he steadfastly believes so. We want to believe 
that the church we have grown up in or with which we are 
affiliated is the best, and so we believe it. We want to believe 
that the political party for which we have shouted and to 
which we have publicly committed ourselves, is the only 
one that is right, honorable, and "fit to govern." 

The thief wants to take money where he can get it, so 
finds it easy to believe, "Society owes me a living." The 
corporation lawyer wants to take money where he can get it, 
so finds it easy to believe that his corporation is "as honest as 
any other big business concern." The merchant wants profits, 
so has no trouble believing that giving short weight or 
charging unfair profits is "acceptable because a trade 
custom." The school-boy politician wants office badly 
enough to accept the doctrine that "all's fair in politics." 
The boy or girl dabbling in questionable activities finds a 
comforting defense in "Everybody else does it," or "If I 
don't do (or take) this somebody else will; I might as well go 
ahead. " 

All Have Prejudices. Now do not mistake; all of us have 
just such beliefs; we cannot help it; the world offers so many 
facts that we simply have not time and strength to collect all 
the evidence behind any one belief. So we take what facts 
we can get, and then go ahead. That is really the vital thing, 
going ahead. There is no standing still in life; we move 
forward or we move backward — or else we stagnate, rot, 
perish in our tracks. The important thing is to know which 
of your beliefs are the prejudices based upon selfish desires, 
arid which will stand the test of facts and truth. 

It is no sin to be in the wrong; you have the very best of 



IX 



196 BETTER SPEECH 

company in that; everybody is so some time, in some way. 
The evil part of it is to go on being wrong when you might as 
well, by facing facts, be right. And this can be done only by 
wanting to find the truth just as hard as you ever want to get 
money or position or fame or bodily indulgence. Fix your 
mind on a determination to get facts even though they hurt, 
and you can crowd your lower wishes and desires back into 
the place where they belong. 

So run down your prejudices. The very best that can be 
done about your unhardened and unfinished beliefs is to 
know that that is just what they are. If you have a pain, 
you do well to know in what joint or muscle or limb. Then, 
having weaknesses in your thinking, find out as fairly as you 
can in which of your mental joints or limbs they are. Just 
to know that your insistence upon the infallibility of this or 
that political party or the superiority of your social set over 
all others, is a "wish fulfillment" and not a fact-established 
truth, will help keep you from making yourself foolish by 
displaying such convictions. Spare yourself as much ridicule 
as you can. "Know thyself" means, "know which of your 
convictions are wish prejudices and which are verifiable 
truth. " 

EXERCISE 

How do you explain these people? Give a short talk in class on: 

1. the salesman who tries to make out that his goods are perfect 
and that those of his competitor are sadly defective. 

2. the politician who finds nothing wrong with his party and 
nothing right with the party of the opposition. 

3. the preacher who quarrels in his sermons with other denomina- 
tions of the same religion worshipping the same God. 

4. the housewife who haunts the movies and neglects housework 
and explains that "she just must have relaxation and inspiration?" 

6. the man who believes he is of better blood than others just 
because his ancestors had more money. 

6. the mother who believes her son or daughter can never do 
wrong. 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 197 

7. the man who thinks the members of his profession are a bit 
better than anybody else on earth. 

8. the man who sacrifices his life for another. 

9. the people who serve humanity in simplicity and gentleness? 

10. the grafting politician who is yet good to his family and pays 
his debts with scrupulous promptness. 

11. the man of strong religious bent who " shaves mortgages" 
and " grinds the faces of the poor." 

12. the man who believes in his country and is willing to die for 
her. 

13. the martyrs of the church. 

14. the mother who sacrifices for her children. 

15. the business man who feels he must go on making money 
after he is rich. 

16. the philanthropist, the man who believes in the doctrine that 
"It is more blessed to give than to receive." 

5. Learn How to Believe from the Lives of 
Great Men 

Every man or woman who ever received the approval of 
his fellow man, must be counted a great believer. Every man 
or woman who has done a great work in the world is a great 
believer. Every man or woman who wishes to make life 
count for blessings and success must be a great believer. 
The heroes of faith are the greatest heroes of all. Columbus 
firm in the faith that he could sail into the west and find a 
way around the world; Washington believing with all his 
heart, amidst an almost universal scepticism, that the 
American cause could triumph; Lincoln holding fast to his 
conviction that the Union could and must be preserved — 
these men are great because they believed greatly. James 
Otis believed that it was wrong for the king to impose unjust 
taxes, and his belief made him a voice crying for American 
independence; Daniel Webster believed that this country 
must find safety through the Constitution, and he believed 
it bravely and powerfully against all opponents; Wendell 
Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, Henry Ward Beecher, 



198 BETTER SPEECH 

believed that slavery was wrong and must be abolished; 
Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson believed powerfully 
that they fought a just fight; Roosevelt and Wilson believed 
in the honor of America, in her mission to lead the world to 
peace, and in the dignity of the common man the world 
around — and all these men we honor and revere for their 
faith; for by their faith they have verily moved mountains 
of fear, of prejudice, of ignorance, and of misunderstanding. 
Do you know any reason why you should not be one to 
hold a great conviction, to test it in the crucible of facts and 
truth, to refine it and shape it into a thing of power and 
beauty, and then with it to work a good work upon the 
world in which you live and which has given you life and 
being? Attend to Emerson when he says, " Trust thyself; 
every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place 
the divine Providence has found for you; the society of 
your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men 
have always done so and confided themselves childlike to the 
genius of the age, betraying their perception that the Eternal 
was stirring at their hearts, working through their hands, 
predominating in all their being." 

EXERCISES 

1. Write out what you find to be the great conviction in the life 
of any of the following men and women: tell the class in a short 
talk:— 

Moses Milton 

Socrates Cromwell 

Aristotle Lord Chatham 

Demosthenes Gladstone 

Caesar John Bright 

Cicero John Huss 

Augustine Luther 

Savonarola John Newman 

St. Francis of Assisi John Keats 

Peter the Hermit William Wordsworth 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 199 

Jean Jacques Rousseau William James 

Isaac Newton Horace Mann 

Descartes Henry W. Grady 

Lavoisier Booker T. Washington 

John Paul Jones Marshall Joffre 

Charles Darwin Ibsen 

Henry Clay Susan B. Anthony 

John Calhoun Frances E. Willard 

Daniel Webster John B. Gough 

Wendell Phillips Theodore Roosevelt 

Tom Corwin Woodrow Wilson 

Matthew Arnold Samuel Gompers 

John Locke Madame Curie 

2. State what these convictions will lead to in life: 

(a) All that glisters is not gold. 

(b) Nobody will ever find me out. 

(c) The world owes me a living. 

(d) I am just as good as anybody else. 

(e) "My sins as scarlet are." 

(f) It is more blessed to give than to receive. 

(g) The just shall live by faith, 
(h) Man wants but little here below. 

(i) He who would lose his life shall save it. 

(j) Our party can do no wrong. 

(k) My convictions are beyond any man's criticism. 

(1) The truth is known by "me and my crowd" only. 

(m) High profits are all right if you can get away with them. 

(n) Sin is not in doing wrong but in being caught. 

(o) It is in ourselves that we are thus or so. 

(p) I am the captain of my soul. 

(q) "Let me have two years of the present profits and I don't 

care what becomes of the U. S. A." 
(r) "These miners are only Wops and Hunkies, and there's 

no use trying to help them to be anything else." 

D. Purpose 

With Observation turned into Memory and Memory used 
in fixing Belief, you have laid the foundation for using your 
Thought in Speech. Observation, Memory, and Belief are 



200 BETTER SPEECH 

at the bottom of all Thinking; without them no Thinking is 
done. Now, in using them so as to get other people to think 
and do as you would have them, something more is needed; 
they must be put into an effective gun and shot at a definite 
mark. Speaking is just a matter of taking what you have 
learned and using it to influence other people. 

1. State Your Purpose Clearly in Words 

It is pretty good advice to keep from talking unless you 
have something to say. What do we mean by "having 
something to say?" Just having some words we can use? 
or making sounds one after the other? or giving a moving 
picture of our mind at any one time with all its random 
wanderings and meanderings? Hardly; when we speak of 
" having something to say," we imply having something 
definite to say, having a particular thing we want to talk 
about; but better yet, having a definite, particular thing 
we want to do to the man or audience we are talking to. Unless 
you know what it is you want others to do, then you are the 
person at whom the following remarks may justly be directed: 
"He doesn't know what he is talking about," "He just talks 
to hear himself talk," "He is merely a bag of wind." "Rave 
on." "Turn off the gas metre," "Hire a hall." 

There is just one cure for this: know what you want done, 
and be able to state it to yourself in words. Here are some of 
the things you are likely to be asking of your listeners and 
observers: 

1. Listen to me while I talk. 

2. Get this statement. 

3. See this picture I paint for you. 

4. Understand my position. 

5. Be tolerant of my point of view. 

6. Accept my contribution to the subject. 

7. Fix this point in your mind. 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 201 

8. Mend your conviction to suit these facts. 

9. Change your mind on this point. 

10. Learn this lesson. 

11. Change your habits. 

12. Go with me. 

13. Do this, do that, do any of a thousand things one can ask. 

14. Give your influence, your efforts, your money. 

15. Sacrifice for this cause. 

16. Live for country, for home, for humanity. 

2. Go After the Possible 

The wildest thing a speaker can do in private or in public 
address, is to ask people for what they positively cannot or 
will not do or give. Salesmen, orators, statesmen are forever 
knocking their heads against stone walls asking people for 
what they do not have or will not give up. To know ahead of 
time what the possibilities are in the man or woman you are 
dealing with is to go far toward making yourself able to 
Think for Speech. If you do not "know your man/' you are 
merely shuffling around in the dark; you are shooting at the 
flock; you are merely having a good time by yourself with 
nobody else interested. 

Do not carry coals to Newcastle, iron products to Pitts- 
burgh, meat products to Chicago. Trying to sell phono- 
graphs to the deaf and picture books to the blind is all too 
common on the public platform and in business. Men of 
wealth are not interested in tirades against property; hand 
workers doze off on the subject of the daily art life of the 
Greeks; wage earners of all kinds are not interested in defences 
of aristocracies of money and privilege. High school students 
wriggle in their seats and think about the next athletic event 
or the latest social affair when a dignified gentleman of im- 
portance tells them about the duty they owe to classical 
culture. Salesmen are continually trying to sell to people 
who have no money; preachers trying to save the souls of 



202 BETTER SPEECH 

those who consider themselves adequately provided for 
spiritually; politicians trying to convince people that black is 
just a dark gray, and that the safety of the republic depends 
upon having in office only the men who talk their kind of 
political jargon. 

Know People. There is only one cure for this everlasting 
mistake of missing the mark or of having no mark at all. 
It is to know people. If you are the kind of youth who sweetly 
has convinced himself that he understands all the problems of 
the universe, who blushingly knows just where the man can 
be found to give the answer to all the world's vexing prob- 
lems, who tells everybody just where everybody belongs 
and what he should do in life — then you are the one of all 
men most likely to stand before people and try to sell coal to 
a coal mine or to offer conversion to the converted or to 
convince the unconvinceable. Nobody knows enough to ac- 
complish those things. 

But it is quite possible for you to know more than you 
know now and more than many other people ever will know. 
Learn to read human nature. Learn how other people think. 
Study their powers of Observation, Memory, Conviction, 
Purpose, and Imagination. Know what they desire most, 
what they reject, what they love and what they hate, what 
they think false and what they feel sure is true. There is no 
more vital way of keeping from being a bore in conversation 
and a nuisance on the public platform than by knowing the 
inner thoughts, feelings, hopes, and yearnings of the people 
you are trying to make think your way. The Purpose part 
of your Thinking for Speech is useless to you unless you 
guide it by knowledge of people. 

So when you feel that you must speak, be sure your Purpose 
is something more than just exercising your vocal organs and 
pumping your diaphragm. Somebody has invented a none- 
too-elegant term for this useless exercise of the speaking 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 203 

apparatus; he calls it "jaw bone." His advice is "Beware 
Jaw-bone." It is worth heeding. Start with a clear idea of 
what you want, phrase it clearly in words, and then make 
sure it fits the people to whom you are going to say it. 

3. Dare to Purpose High Things 

Be cautious, be wise, be informed; all these you must be to 
influence others. But you must be something more; you 
must be brave. If you will survey the successful men and 
women you know, you will find that they are the out-reaching 
kind; they leave their moorings now and then and launch 
out into deep water. The American type is becoming more 
and more what is called, in our made-up language of the 
newspapers, the "go-getter." If you feel that men should 
improve their morals, go out to reach them; if you have the 
American's most common ambition, to get money, realize 
that none of it will come rolling up hill to meet you. Always 
behind any successful attempt to influence others through 
Speech must be this spirit of willingness, rising to the level of 
courage in the best instances, which moves toward things, and 
not away. This is what courage is: a disposition to move 
toward what you fear, instead of away or merely to stand 
your ground. It is vital to speaking of all kinds, and pays 
large dividends to thinkers who have it. 

EXERCISES 

1. What purposes are possible for these audiences; that is, what 
can these people most easily be induced to do? 

1. Farmers. 

2. Merchants. 

3. Ladies Aid Society. 

4. Railway Employes. 

5. School faculty. 

6. Soldiers. 

7. Day laborers. 

8. Artists (painters.) 



204 BETTER SPEECH 

9. Engineers. 

10. A high school literary society. 

11. A football team. 

12. Horse racers. 

2. Criticize the following purposes; note any difficulties that must 
be met. 

1. Asking coal miners to accept lower wages. 

2. Seeking to induce teamsters to approve a vehicle tax. 

3. Asking a group of waiters to oppose tip-taking. 

4. Explaining a musical score to musicians. 

5. Calling for a reduction of building costs, to a group of con- 

contractors. 

3. What is wrong with the purposes of the following people? 
Make a specific recommendation for improvement: 

1. The boy who regularly gets low grades. 

2. The girl who looks " dowdy." 

3. The teacher who cannot control the class room. 

4. The parent who does not know where the children spend 

their evenings. 

5. The public speaker who lets his audience get drowsy. 

6. The city official who offends his constituency. 

7. The policeman who antagonizes all the boys on his beat. 

8. The military officer who uses harsh punishment. 

9. The housewife who cannot get meals on time. 

10. The athlete who cannot obey training rules. 

E. Imagination 

Improving Imagination takes either of two directions: 
(1) Giving it rein; (2) Holding it in check. People either 
are guilty of "seeing things" or of being dull and prosy. 
Shakespeare describes the active imagination when he says, 

"The lunatic, the lover and the poet 

Are of imagination all compact. 

One sees more devils than vast hell can hold, 

That is the madman: the lover, all as frantic 

Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt: 

The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, 

Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven; 

And as imagination bodies forth 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 205 

The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen 
Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing 
A local habitation and a name." 

The other class are the people who lack inventiveness, 
who take everything literally, have no worth-while fancies, 
boast that they are matter-of-fact, hard-headed, " practical" 
people. 

1. Toning the Imagination Down 

The cure for a too-vivid Imagination is to face facts. Chil- 
dren have no end of trouble making out what is real and what 
is fancied. The little boy who saw a shaggy St. Bernard 
dog and told his mother there was a lion in the yard, probably 
had no intention of deceiving; he thought he did see a lion. 
Lively children lining up a row of chairs to make a railroad 
train have no difficulty in thinking it is a real train; some- 
times they are actually frightened when someone gets in the 
way of it. A little girl finds it easy to think that her doll 
actually can feel a hurt and can be sad or merry. This 
keenness of imagination is common to all alert children. 

So much of childhood we carry with us into our elder 
years that we are not always sure of what we see. Five 
grown men see a street car upset an automobile, and while 
all swear that they are telling the truth, yet all five in court 
and under oath tell distinctly different and contradictory 
stories. Most of us are never quite correct about what we 
see; for we still are children, seeing what we want to see. 

The cure is to talk it over, either with yourself or with 
another. Many of your pet imaginings you would give up 
with blushes if you knew anyone else suspected them, or if 
you actually took the pains to tell them in words to yourself. 
Learn from your friends; if they arch an eyebrow at some 
wild tale or at some recital of your own heroism, it .is time 
to take the thing apart and see where you have added some- 



206 BETTER SPEECH 

thing that doesn't square with the facts. Get the habit of 
observing so accurately that when you tell about what you 
have observed you won't be inserting what you would like 
to have observed. That is how we get our teller of unlikely 
tales; people tell what they would have liked to see. Their 
motto is " Don't let the facts interfere with a good story or 
with your own idea of grandeur." 

A modification of this is: Write down the thing you wish 
to tell; let it lie a day or so; then look it over and see how 
much of it is the expansion of heat. Note whether it shrinks 
in the cooling process of time. 

2. Toning the Imagination Up 

Toning Up is harder than Toning Down; it is easier to 
check what is going than to put speed into what is dead. 
Brakes can effect a complete stop on all cars; but speed is 
definitely limited. The prospective speaker or reader who 
is prosy, uninventive, and too matter-of-fact, must go to 
the bottom of his Thinking habits. He must begin by ob- 
serving more clearly, remembering more distinctly, and 
then must be able to use his observations and his recol- 
lections in a way that helps imagination. 

a. Be Active All Over. One way to improve Imagination 
is to be more active all over. The unimaginative person is 
the very one who is sluggish in his movements, prefers sit- 
ting to moving about, takes life very easy and softly, and is 
mostly concerned with avoiding trouble. Again, lack of 
imagination is the result of fear, fear of attracting attention, 
fear of consequences that cannot be foreseen with perfect 
clearness, fear of getting oneself into trouble for having 
ideas. A well-directed imagination is evidence of one kind 
of courage. The poor imaginer is afraid to take a chance; 
he prefers to play safe. The cure is to break away from past 
fear and laziness; bestir the body. This will add to your 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 207 

muscular strength, reduce your fears of the world, and 
show you that there are definite rewards to be had from 
using and directing the Imagination. 

b. Enjoy Your Flights of Fancy. Some one has said 
that "All art is dedicated to joy." All art is the result of 
Imagination; so all art is a product of the joy of seeing the 
" light that never was on land or sea." The poet, the painter, 
the architect, the story-teller, the musician — all have burn- 
ing imaginations and all revel in flights from the earth their 
everyday feet must tread. All creative Thinking is Imaginative 
Thinking. Even the discoveries of science are the products 
of soaring and teeming Imagination. 

No new invention is possible without the ability to see 
things that are not obvious to others. It is a commonplace 
that many great inventions are after all simple; which means 
that they wait for someone with Imagination to come along 
and see what other eyes have missed. You see this effect in a 
consideration of the years of your life before you were able 
to make out the man in the moon. Later yet, you can dis- 
cover the lady — a feat you could not perform without 
Imagination. 

Imagining for Purposes of Speaking. Exercising Imagina- 
tion is one of the best things the successful speaker can do. 
The public man of new ideas and the ability to see old things 
in new relations is one kind that rarely bores people. Fol- 
lowing are some activities that will enlarge the powers of 
Imagination: 

EXERCISES 

1. Imagine yourself before an audience; facing them, mastering 
them, being courteous to them, thinking their thoughts, and in- 
ducing them to think yours. Stand up in the posture of a speaker. 

2. See life in new relations; put old ideas together in new ways; 
give a class talk on these topics: 

(a) What would happen if the officers of the athletic associa- 
tion were all girls? 



208 BETTER SPEECH 

(b) What would you do if you were on the faculty of the 
school? (Think this through with care and not from 
your surface impressions.) 

(c) Imagine yourself in Congress; what would it feel like? 

(d) Do you know how " the other half lives? " Make a talk 
on the impressions that would interest you if you were 
changed from poverty to wealth or from wealth — or a 
well-to-do condition — to poverty. Fill in details. 

(e) Give details of how it would feel to be a successful 
minister; a politician out of office; a college graduate who 
is counted a failure; a poor man suddenly become wealthy;' 
a blind man who has just recovered his sight; yourself as 
winner of a prize in speaking or athletics or scholarship. 

3. Select a conviction you hold dearly and push it to a conclusion. 
Use it for a class talk. 

(a) What are the consequences of believing that the United 

States is able to get along without association with 
other nations? 

(b) If you believe that education is for the purpose of 

providing everybody with a " white-collar job," what 
does such a belief imply? Expand the idea. 

(c) Are young people able to decide their own futures? 

If so, then what? 

4. Give Fancy free rein for a while; make a three minute talk on 
the subjects: 

(a) What do birds think? 

(b) What is the Lusitania like now? 

(c) What is it like in a submarine at full speed? 

(d) How are we ever going to communicate with Mars? 

(e) What will the world be like in the year 2000? 

(f) What kind of man will be most honored when all men 

and races receive equal education? 

(g) What would happen if Japan conquered the earth? 
(h) What would Lincoln say of present politics? 

5. Let each member of the class draw upon Imagination and 
bring in a list of 10 questions like those in Exercise 4. 

6. Give before the class an imaginary account of an athletic 
contest, a party, an election, a trip, a fight, an airplane accident, 
an automobile smash-up, an arrest, a court trial, a mob. 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 209 

F. Reasoning 

Reasoning is a means of answering questions. Thus, it is 
a method of solving difficulties. There are five general types 
of questions answered by the reasoning process; these are: 

1. What is it all atom*? 

2. What law governs the situation? 

3. To what known fact or circumstance is this matter similar? 

4. How does this thing come to pass? 

5. What will come of it? 

These can be stated, in different language, as the five 
principal types of reasoning: 

1. Definition. 

2. Generalization. 

3. Analogy. 

4. Explaining Causes. 

5. Predicting Results. 

1. Definition 

Definition is an aid to thinking — to problem solving — in 
that it helps us to know and to tell others what we are 
talking about. 

Suppose you should say to an audience, ' ' We ought to work 
for world peace"; and some one should not know whom you 
meant by "we," what you intend by "ought to," and what 
particular "work" we could do, or what kind of "peace" 
we were working for. You cannot possibly influence that 
person's thought and solve problems for him until you have 
made clear what you mean by these various terms. In this 
particular statement the term "we" needs defining, "ought 
to" needs defining, "work for" also, and "peace." 

Take so simple a sentence as "Fishing is great fun." The 
time might easily come when you would have to tell just 
what kind of fishing you meant, under what circumstances, 
when, where, with whom, etc. What do you mean by "great 




- 



210 BETTER SPEECH 

fun?" One man's idea of great fun is not another man's at 
all, and if you are to influence him, you must let him know 
what you mean. 

A more complicated sentence shows better yet the need of 
definition: "Your money is needed for the relief of war suf- 
ferers." Whose money? Define "your;" "is needed," 
how needed? what do you mean by "needed?" "Relief," 
what kind of relief, relief when? where? how? "War sufferers," 
what "war sufferers," under what circumstances? how suffer- 
ing? how much? what war? Any time you feel that your 
audience does not know just what you mean, you must de- 
fine; if you define accurately, then you are using one form 
of good reasoning. 

2. Generalization 

This world is made on an orderly basis; things belong in 
classes, in groups. We are ruled by laws, rules, principles. 
So much is this true that when we try to settle problems we 
find that it is positively necessary to state general laws. 
If it were not possible for man to do this, he would be in 
great danger for his very life. If it were impossible to frame 
a rule such as, "An approaching street car is dangerous," 
we should not be sure of life in a crowded city street; or if 
we did not know that "A cold may lead to serious physical 
consequences," we could not keep our health. 

Thus we live in a world governed by laws and principles. 
The man who can state the laws most accurately is in this 
particular the man who is the best thinker. 

The child notices at some time or other that the grass in 
his yard is green, then observes some time that the grass in 
the neighbor's yard is green, later that grass in other yards 
around town is green also, and then with a growing experi- 
ence with greenness in grass, some day arrives at the con- 
clusion that "Grass is green." In the same way he will 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 211 

ultimately learn that "Falling objects are dangerous," "Air 
is necessary to life," "Butterflies come from larvae," "Exer- 
cise helps keep us in health." Thus from specific instances he 
comes to laws and principles, which guide him through life. 

3. Analogy 

Another way we solve problems is by expecting to find that 
some new thing we have encountered is in some particulars 
like an old one. You learn to know what a stone looks 
like; one day you come across an object that has all the visible 
outward marks of a stone, and you are pretty sure to infer 
that it is a new kind of stone; it is hard, it is heavy, it can 
be broken up by hammering. This is the general process 
known as analogy. The instance we have taken is fairly 
typical; because analogy is one of the most dangerous types 
of arguments or inference or reasoning; the thing that looks 
like a stone may not be a stone at all. The small boy who 
picks up a yellow-jacket thinking it is a nice, large pretty fly 
that is harmless, is likely to learn a lesson in the use of analogy. 
A man who had never seen ice on a lake, thinking that be- 
cause it looked like water he could dive into it as well as he 
could into water, would learn something to his interest at 
once. This general process of analogy is very common in 
all our reasoning. 

Analogy is used very much in political discussions and in 
arguments that have to do with society, politics, the church, 
and social matters. We are pretty likely to argue that if 
England makes a success of Workmen's Compensation Laws 
then we in America can do so, too. A certain type of arbi- 
tration has worked in the building trades, and men might 
easily argue that this type of arbitration will work also in the 
labor problem of the railroad. Apples are good for the di- 
gestion; therefore they ought to be good for stomach ache. 
This is an inference by analogy, but you can readily see how 



212 BETTER SPEECH 

dangerous it is. The Panama Canal was built on inference 
by analogy: The Suez Canal had been successful; hence a 
Canal across the Isthmus of Panama would be successful 
too. In this case we have a perfectly proper inference. A 
certain revivalist said once, "Nature revives herself every 
year; therefore the church should have an annual revival.' ' 
What about the validity of this inference by analogy? 

Analogy is very common in what we know as illustration. 
For example, "The hunter scales the Alps by overcoming 
great difficulties and wins success by unfailing perseverance; 
so the student will win in the climb of life by being faithful 
to his task, and by persevering against all difficulties." Or, 
"Sailors are saved even after hope has been given up; so 
also sinners can be redeemed even after their lives seem most 
hopelessly lost." This general type of analogy, appearing in 
illustrations of this kind, is very common indeed; and, truth 
be said, very useful. 

4. Explaining Causes 

A constant problem that man faces is, What was the 
cause of this or that occurrence? Very often our success in 
life depends on the ability to tell how things happened. We 
guide our actions in the future by what we discover has 
happened in the past. Yet many things that plainly enough 
have happened, do not reveal on the surface just how they 
came about. So man with his reasoning powers casts about 
to find out what he can of the causes of things which he now 
knows about. All of us do this quite beyond our everyday 
needs; we do it for fun, the mere joy of the doing, and we do 
it for occupation. Much of ordinary conversation and even 
of gossip is telling "how it all came about;" while much of 
the work of science, scholarship, and investigation is the 
attempt to discover causes of things that have already taken 
place. When learned men discover these causes for us, they 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 213 

provide us with guides for the future, thus making this world 
a safe place in which to live. 

A great deal of the knowledge and opinion by which we 
are guided every day is the result of explaining causes that 
have worked some time before. For example, geologists 
now infer that the earth was originally a molten mass and 
has gradually cooled. Astronomers reason out that tides are 
caused by the attraction of the moon for the water of the 
ocean. A doctor, after studying a patient, explains that 
the sickness came from improper diet. The papers report a 
football game, and say the game was lost because of fumbles. 
A large part of every court trial is an attempt to find out what 
produced this or that result. Explaining causes thus adds 
daily to our thinking. 

Typical instances of reasoning by means of Explaining 
Causes are: A man has been found dead with a bullet hole 
in his back, and clutching a piece of cloth in his hand, a piece 
obviously torn from a coat. The shrubbery around is 
trampled down and the grass dug up. The man has fallen in 
a crumpled attitude. The inference is, reasoning by the 
process of Explaining Causes, that this man has been killed 
in a fight of some kind. Another case: We find much unem- 
ployment in the country; yet the country has immense 
wealth and abundant means for sustaining life among all 
the unemployed. The very obvious inference is that there 
is something wrong with the system of distribution in this 
country. This method is very common in discovering 
crimes, in advancing the works of science, and in simpli- 
fying our everyday living. 

5. Predicting Results 

A very common question or problem is, What will happen 
if I do thus and so? What are the consequences of this or 
that act? How will this thing come out? The attempt to 



214 BETTER SPEECH 

answer these questions is one form of reasoning — Predicting 
Results. 

This type is very common also. Careful and foresighted 
people are much given to predicting what will take place 
next. The papers say a high tariff will increase prices. The 
football coach tells his men that teamwork will win. The 
preacher tells his congregation that if they do wrong they 
will suffer evil consequences. We see a boy with a match 
and a pile of leaves and we say, Aha, there will be a bright 
glow here pretty soon! The teacher of chemistry says this 
acid and that alkali in such and such quantities will produce 
such and such an effect. The political speaker says if we 
raise freight rates there will be a general increase in the cost 
of living. All these are examples of inferences drawn from 
facts about the future. This method of predicting the future 
is a very valuable form of Reasoning. 

EXERCISES IN REASONING 
I. Definition 

Make a paragraph speech defining one of the following terms: 

(a) The economic interests of the United States 

(b) The time of roses 

(c) The " other half" 

(d) A " lively sense of communication" 

(e) The world war 

(f) An interest in art 

(g) Tariff reform 
(h) Bolshevism 

(i) The " British Empire" 

(j) The word "must" in these propositions: 
Children must obey their parents 
The State must protect itself from enemies. 
We must have a picnic some day soon 

(k) The spirit of sacrifice 

(1) Overthrowing our American institutions 

(m) The voice of the common people 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 215 



II. Generalization 

1. Observe the students in one of your classes and make a classi- 
fication of types. 

2. State some characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon peoples. 

3. Give 5 specific instances of each of the following generalizations: 

(a) Almost all kinds of Americans are lovers of power. 

(b) High schools are successful " colleges of the people." 

(c) The church is progressing (or retrograding). 

4. Tell why the following general statements are not good gener- 
alizations: 

(a) Lawyers follow the practice of splitting hairs so fine that 
they ruin their influence. 

(b) Stones soft enough to cut with a knife are a kind of 

sandstone. 

(c) People who spend their time in amusements will come 

to some bad end. 

5. Select 5 objects at random — watch, dish, pencil, house, car — 
and from the five make a generalization, find some characteristic 
they have in common. Repeat this with various groups of things 
chosen more or less at random. 

III. Analogy 

1. Complete the illustration: 

(a) As ships launch out bravely into the sea, so the gradu- 

ating class — 

(b) Grain in the fields sways and bends with every breath of 

wind; many American crowds — 

(c) The railroad with the best road bed carries the most 

traffic; the man with — 

2. Criticize; is the inference sound? Defend or oppose in a short 
talk: 

(a) Wars have always bred new wars; the late war cannot 

fail to leave us a new crop of hatreds. 

(b) Merchants never go on strike : laborers then never should. 

(c) Italy has been a mother of art: therefore the Italians of 

America will be our greatest artists. 

(d) The river overflowed its banks last year after a winter 

of snows: it will do so again this year because we have 
had even more snow than last year. 



216 BETTER SPEECH 

(e) Chicago can make a success of a subway: New York 

has done so. 

(f) Our team this year is as heavy as last year's team; so we 

have as good a chance at a championship as they. 

(g) Oak and beech are good fuel wood and both hard: this 

ironwood is harder yet, so will make a great fire. 

(h) The various Hague tribunals all failed to limit arma- 
ments, so all such attempts are useless. 

(i) The robin pushes its young out of the nest to learn to 
use their wings: therefore boys and girls should be 
sent away from home to attend school. 

(j) A great ocean liner cannot turn aside for every bobbing 
ferry boat; so a man of influence and power cannot be 
expected to pay attention to the whims and caprices 
of lesser people. 

IV. Explaining Causes 

1. Do you accept the following inferences? If not, state the 
omission or error: 

(a) We had a very wet spring this year; that's the reason 

these chickens have so many feathers on their legs. 

(b) A new political party came into power last year: so of 

course there was a change in price of almost every- 
thing. 

(c) Money has been missed lately by several students from 

their lockers; a certain boy has been seen in the 
locker room a good deal of the time lately; he has 
also been spending money pretty freely of late; and 
now that an investigation is going on, he keeps away 
from school. He is plainly the guilty party. 

(d) The walnuts we gathered last winter are disappearing 

from our attic. Yesterday I looked, there were only 
a few left. Mysterious noises have been coming 
from the direction of that same attic, and yesterday 
I saw the culprit. A big red squirrel stood up on a 
limb of the elm tree in front of the house and boldly 
dropped chips of walnut on my head as I passed along 
the sidewalk. 

(e) Barns burned last year, hay stacks fired this summer, 

wheat in the back forty burned in the shock — an 
enemy is seeking revenge for a real or fancied wrong. 



THINKING FOR SPEECH 217 

2. From newspaper editorials find and hand in passages that seek 
to present an explanation of things that have occurred. 

3. Find passage in history text books that use this method of 
adding to knowledge: explain what causes were at work to produce 
certain known results. 

4. Make short speeches on the following topics, using the method 
of explaining Causes from known results; elaborate the causes: 

(a) The Spanish war was the result of unspeakable cruelties 

heaped upon the defenseless Cuban people. 

(b) The Great Lakes are the result of the advance and 

retreat of great mountains of ice in the form of glaciers. 

(c) We lost the game through over-confidence. 

(d) I failed in that study because I didn't attend to business. 

(e) The rain spoiled our Fourth of July celebration. 

(f) Chicago is the outgrowth of its position near rich agri- 

cultural country and of good connections by land 
and water. 

(g) I finally discovered that the loss of my chickens was due 

to (select any of a number of possible causes.) 
(h) The trouble with your low grades is that you do not 

take care of your health, 
(i) The Great War was caused by greed among rulers and 

ignorance among their subjects, 
(j) The recent political campaign (select one known to you 

and of interest to your audience) was won by (so 

and so) because (whatever reasons applied). 

V. Predicting Results 

1. Make a talk forecasting the result of some current event; fill 
out to suit your opinions: 

(a) The recent election will bring about — 

(b) If this school continues the way it is going it will — 

(c) A study of history will — 

(d) Failure on the part of the voters of this community to 

vote on this measure will — (Select a measure and 
predict results) : 

1. An increased school tax. 

2. A street car franchise. 

3. A new high school building. 



218 BETTER SPEECH 

4. A new sewer system. 

5. Daylight saving. 

6. Allowing picture shows on Sunday. 

7. A commission form of government. 

8. Approving a city manager. 

9. A local automobile tax. 

10. Opening the schools to various civic bodies for 
evening use. 

(e) Go to college and you will — 

(f) If is elected, he will — 

(g) The football scores show that in the coming games our 

team will — 



CHAPTER VII 
CONVERSATION 

A meeting of minds. 



Woodrow Wilson. 



Good talk, like right persuasion, is animated by respect for, and 
sympathy with, the humanity and individuality of others. 

Wm. MacPherson. 

OUTLINE 

I. The Nature of Conversation. 

A. Conversation is a Way of Living with Others. 

II. Good Conversation. 

III. How to Improve in Conversation. 

A. Study Human Nature. 

B. Remember the Golden Rule. 

1. Be sincere. 

2. Don't be self-centered. 

3. Consider the interests of others. 

4. Give others a chance to talk. 

C. Use Good Voice, Language, and Action. 

D. Practice. 

I. THE NATURE OF CONVERSATION 
A. Conversation is a way of living with others 

What is conversation; what is it for; why do people con- 
verse with each other? The Latin conversari from which 
the English conversation is derived means "to associate with," 
or "to commune with." Conversation is a way of living 
with others. It is a mental and spiritual fellowship. 

There is no worse situation for most of us than to be 

219 



220 BETTER SPEECH 

cut off from fellowship with others. One of the most dread- 
ful forms of punishment is solitary confinement, putting a 
prisoner off by himself and denying him all access to human 
companions. If it is continued for long, insanity is almost 
sure to result. The lower animals may be content to have 
physical companionship with their kind; the mere presence 
of other animals is, in most instances, all that is necessary; 
but man wants more than the mere physical proximity of 
other men. He needs mental and spiritual fellowship, and 
this he attains principally through conversation. 

II. GOOD CONVERSATION 

There is a great difference between a " talker" and a 
" conversationalist." Mere glibness and fluency do not 
insure success in the fine art of conversation. We shall see 
that it is quite as possible to fail in conversation because one 
talks too much as because one talks too little. Ruth Mc- 
Enery Stuart, in one of her delightful stories, tells us about 
"Rose Ann," whose mother remarks: "She always could 
talk a plenty but she never could converse." But anyone 
who can talk well has a chance to learn how to converse. 

Since conversation is a form of mental and spiritual 
fellowship among human beings, good conversation should 
conform to the same standards as apply to other forms of 
association. The most important general test is that of 
mutual advantage and satisfaction. The only desirable 
kind of fellowship is that which makes those who participate 
in it better and happier than they would be without it. 

It is well to avoid the type of conversation described by 
the New York State Department of Education in their 
bulletin which says, "The ordinary conversation begins and 
ends with safe, shallow, profitless inanities, nothing given, 
nothing received." * 

* Bulletin of the University of the State of New York, No. 96, p. 12. 



CONVERSATION 221 

Shakespeare refers to " companions that do converse and 
waste the time together." Most of us do not need any help 
in wasting time. Conversation should offer a way of con- 
serving and improving time, and of making those who con- 
verse more comfortable and happy in their relations with 
each other. 

III. HOW TO IMPROVE IN CONVERSATION 

A. Study Human Nature 

Conversation is one way, and a very important way, we 
have of getting on with other people. We are but calling at- 
tention to the obvious when we say that a sympathetic 
understanding of the folks about us is of the greatest help 
in adjusting ourselves to them. Those who succeed best in 
conversation know what others are thinking and feeling. 
They know what people have thought and felt, and how they 
have acted in the past and why; in short, they understand 
the secrets of human nature. Without this understanding, 
no one can expect any considerable success in conversation. 

B. Remember the Golden Rule 

Careful and conscientious practice of the golden rule will 
make almost any person of average capacity a success in 
conversation. Let us see what the rule, doing to others as 
you would have them do to you, means when applied to 
conversation. 

1. Be Sincere. You know that there is little chance of your 
having a pleasant conversation with anyone who is affected 
and artificial in his attitude toward you. Unless conversa- 
tion brings you into contact with a real personality, you will 
not get much satisfaction from it. Conversation is a form 
of fellowship and no one really cares to have fellowship 
with an insincere person. Be honest, frank, friendly and 
sincere if you want to converse with others. 



222 BETTER SPEECH 

2. Don't be self-centered. The chief characteristic of the 
chronic bore is his egotism. He may be a great talker, but he 
is forever talking about himself and his own affairs. Out of 
his egotism grow the other characteristics of a bore: his 
inability to leave out of the conversation the irrelevant, 
inconsequential details of his own concerns, his desire to 
drag in everything in any remote way connected with what- 
ever interests him, and finally, worst of all, a complete lack 
of tact which always spells disaster in conversation. 

3. Consider the interests of others. This rule merely reiter- 
ates the preceding, putting the matter positively instead of 
negatively. Ask yourself the question, "With whom do I 
most like to converse?" Isn't it almost invariably some one 
who is able and willing to discuss matters which interest you? 
Be thoughtful of others; find out what they are interested in; 
talk intelligently and sympathetically about that, and they 
will set you down as a pleasant conversationalist. 

4. Give others a chance to talk. Many a man has earned a 
reputation as a master of the art of conversation by showing 
himself to be a good listener. A conversation must not be 
regarded as a "talk fest" in which you are the star performer. 
A conversation is a joint or group undertaking in which you 
should show yourself willing to do your part both as speaker 
and as listener. The surest way to spoil a conversation is to 
have some one person monopolize it and refuse to let any one 
else get in a word edge-wise. You cannot be at the bat all 
the time; give the other fellow his innings and listen to 
him as you want him to listen to you when your turn comes. 
Above all don't be impatient for your next chance to talk. 

Charles Lamb tells the following story of the poet Coleridge, 
who was occasionally a rare conversationalist but always a 
great talker. He had the habit, when meeting his acquaint- 
ances on the streets, of seizing a button of their coats and 
then closing his eyes and beginning to talk. While his eyes 



CONVERSATION 223 

were closed, he would pour out a torrent of words concerning 
matters that interested him, regardless of whether they 
interested the one to whom he was talking; and being unable 
to see the distress signals of the other man, he was not bothered 
by them. 

One day Coleridge met and literally button-holed a friend 
who, waiting until the poet had got well under way with his 
talking, took out his knife, carefully cut off the button of 
his coat and left Coleridge standing, with his eyes closed, 
talking to the button. After some time, having gone about 
his errands, he came back and found Coleridge still talking. 

You see, Coleridge was not trying to converse with his 
friend, he was talking for his own pleasure regardless of his 
victim's feelings. The button served his purpose just as 
well as a person, so long as he did not know the difference. 

In a delightful essay on "The Art of Conversation" Dean 
Ainger says, "I think when we have come away from a con- 
versation our sense of its having been a success, pleasant 
and interesting, is somehow bound up with certain qualities 
of the heart rather than of mind that have helped to make 
it so. The speakers were kind and genuine, the reverse of 
obtruding, endowed with tact and skill, and this state of 
things rather than the stories we laughed at or the new in- 
formation we gained, remains as the dominant impression." * 
"Take care of the heart, I would almost say to those who 
aim at being pleasant in conversation, take care of the heart 
and the intellect will take care of itself, for the art of con- 
versation is closely bound up with the deeper, wider art of 
giving pleasure. We have to cultivate first (and happily this 
can be cultivated) the art of give and take. . . . Modesty, 
forbearance, kindliness, tact, the desire to please and the 
desire to be pleased, will tell in the long run against mere 
brilliancy or a parade of information, still more against the 

♦Page 290. 



224 BETTER SPEECH 

affectation of universal scepticism and universal cynicism 
which wrecks human intercourse in so many companies these 
days." * 

C. Use Good Voice, Language, and Action 

Of course everything that has been said on the subject of 
speech in general applies to conversation. Conversation is 
usually the least formal kind of speaking; yet it has its con- 
ventions and proprieties which may not be lightly disre- 
garded. All that has been said concerning competence in 
the mastery of the body, the ability to think effectively, the 
use of language, and skill in the management of voice, should 
be remembered when we are trying to improve ourselves 
in the art of conversation. 

D. Practice 

Everyone has countless opportunities to improve himself 
in conversation. Just stop a moment and think what our 
daily life would be without any conversation at all; how 
barren and dull, not to say intolerable. Yet what conscious 
attention have you ever given to your conversation? Is your 
ability in this line an achievement, or is it merely an accident? 
So much is certain: whatever your ability may be, it can be 
improved by conscious attention. When you converse 
with others, try to learn something about the process in which 
you are engaged. Watch others in their conversation; listen 
to them. Try to determine why some succeed while others 
fail. Learn to observe your own conversation. Be honest 
with yourself in estimating your ability in establishing and 
keeping up mental commerce with others. Decide to be 
better tomorrow than you are to-day. Will to improve. , You 
can find plenty of opportunities. The only thing that can 
make your case hopeless is a foolish spirit of self-satisfaction 

* Page 292. 



CONVERSATION 225 

or a lazy indifference. One thing is certain; you have no 
use to which you can put your speaking quite so important 
as that of conversation. 



EXERCISES 

1. Professor Clapp in " Talking Business" gives the following 
"rules and cautions to be observed in business conversation: 

What do you think of these rules? Which of them do you think 
need modification? Discuss them in detail. 

1. Speak frankly and as a rule quickly. Don't hesitate or 

hedge. Don't be too obviously cautious or you make 
your companion think you are not sure of your 
ground. Don't agree to everything; it will appear to 
come from timidity, insincerity, or truckling. Do not 
seem to be afraid to commit yourself. 

2. Walk steadily toward your point. Don't ramble. Don't 

stop to discuss nonessentials. Use every advantage 
which the turn of the talk brings. 

3. But do not be in too much of a hurry. You have the 

task of arousing and sustaining his interest in a matter 
which is perhaps strange to him. Therefore, you must 
take time to reply to his questions and satisfy his ob- 
jections, and give sufficient reason why he should adopt 
your view. Give him time. 

4. When he rambles, get back to the road as quickly and 

directly as you can. This calls for intellectual readi- 
ness and tact. A skillful salesman knows how to do 
this with a prospect who is disposed to jump the 
track. If you have your own aim clearly in mind, you 
will find short cuts in plenty. 

5. Don't provoke him on minor unrelated matters, and 

don't let him provoke you. 

6. Don't talk too long at a time. After three sentences 

at most, stop and let him talk. If you can, close each 
little speech with a question or a suggestion or provoca- 
tive which will serve to give a cue for his next speech. 
Be careful not to end your speeches with positive, down- 
right assertions that may merely shut him up and 
make him resentful. 



226 BETTER SPEECH 

7. When you see in his eye that peculiar abstracted look 
which shows he has something to say, stop right 
there. It will be no use for you to go on, he is not 
listening to you. Let him get it off his chest." * 

2. Let the pupils be paired off and let each pair work up the 
actions and gestures they have seen used in a conversation in real 
life or in the movies. 

3. Tell the class about an interesting conversation in which you 
have recently participated. What were its good points and its bad 
points? 

4. Describe in terms of the text thus far the best conversationalist 
you know. 

5. Agree upon some general topics for discussion. Divide the 
class into groups of five. Have one of each group act as the host 
who introduces the other four to each other and then let the various 
groups discuss the subject agreed upon. The teacher will spend 
his time with different groups assisting in every way possible to 
keep the conversation going everyone contributing as much as 
possible and getting something out of it. 

6. Let each pupil in an unbiased manner present both sides of a 
controversial matter, then state his convictions in the matter and 
have an informal give-and-take discussion of it by the whole group. 
(The teacher will act as chairman and referee.) 

7. Let each pupil tell a humorous anecdote, making it serve the 
purpose of illustrating a point which he wishes to make; and then 
let the members of the class discuss each story and its aptness, sug- 
gesting other stories which they think will illustrate the point as 
well or better. 

8. Show how the tests of good speech as explained in Chapter I 
apply to conversation. 

9. Observe your habits in conversation over the telephone. How 
do they differ from your habits in other conversation? Make a 
list of differences. 

10. Analyze your conversational ability on the basis of what you 
yourself know about it. Imagine what some honest friend will tell 
you about yourself. Where do your personal difficulties lie; in your 
mastery of your whole body, in your voice, in your language, or in 
other things? 

11. Let each pupil bring to class a written list of topics on which 
he considers himself prepared to converse with others, topics on 

* Pages 298-299. 



CONVERSATION 227 

which he is in a position to contribute something to a conversation. 
The teacher will look over these topics, pick out those which seem 
most promising and then let the one who has suggested a given 
topic assume the responsibility for starting an informal discussion 
on it. (This may be a way of getting the general topics to be used 
in exercise 5.) 

12. Let each pupil bring to class the language spoken in a con- 
versation which he has read in a novel, short story, or play. Let the 
class discuss the language of this conversation. 

13. Make up conversation topics from interesting matters that 
have come up in your study or recitation work in other classes: 



Literature 


Geometry 


Languages 


Commercial Law 


Rhetoric 


Physiography 


History 


Agriculture 


Physics 


Domestic Science 


Chemistry 


Bookkeeping 


Botany 


Athletics 


Zoology 


Debating 



Algebra 



CHAPTER VIII 
PUBLIC SPEAKING 

True eloquence consists in saying all that is proper and nothing more. 

ROCHEFOUCAULT. 

Until a man knows the truth and the method of adapting the truth 
to the minds of other men, he cannot be a good public speaker. 

Plato; Phaedo. 

OUTLINE 

I. The Value of Preparation. 

II. The Steps in Preparation. 

1. Choosing the Subject. 

Find the Specific Purpose of the Speech. 

2. Considering the Audience. 

Study the Audience's Tendencies. 

3. Providing Unity by Means of a Proposition. 

State Your Case in a Proposition. 

4. Outlining by Topic Sentences. 

Support the Proposition in a Paragraph Outline. 

5. Providing Coherence. 

Link Outline Topics Coherently. 

6. Providing for Continuity; Types of Outline. 

Decide on Your General Purpose. 

7. Choosing Material. 

Choose Facts, but Avoid Offense. 

8. Developing the Outline Topic; Supporting the Outline 

Topics. 

Select Material to Meet the Attitude of the Audience 

toward each Topic. 

I. THE VALUE OF PREPARATION 

Public Speaking rarely Succeeds without Elaborate Prepara- 
tion. Half the battle in speaking before audiences is in 

228 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 229 

being fully prepared. The very word prepared tells the story; 
in the Latin it means "ready before." Very few occupations 
more positively demand "readiness before" than standing 
in the presence of an audience to speak to them. It is no 
exaggeration to say that half the problem is in being ready; 
this is literally true. The actual speaking is most of the 
time much the easiest part of the speaker's work; the chief 
agony and strain is most likely to come beforehand. The 
prepared man wins; prepared with ideas and facts, prepared 
with a knowledge of how to put his ideas into language, 
prepared with a voice that obeys his wishes, and prepared 
with a body that makes convincing and impressive what he 
brings to the people before him. 

II. THE STEPS IN PREPARING FOR PUBLIC SPEAKING 

The way to make successful public speeches can best be 
presented as a series of Steps. Follow these steps carefully, 
and you will stand a fair chance of getting the results you 
want. 

Choosing the Subject: Finding the Speaker's Purpose 

Step 1. Know What You Want from Your Audience 

It is not enough just to get up and talk. That leads to 
mere spouting. Any time a speaker forces himself upon an 
audience without having a definite Purpose that he wants 
to achieve through those people before him, he is just about 
certain to get what he decided on — nothing. Every public 
address should do something to the audience. It is all wrong 
to think of an audience as purely passive, as not doing any- 
thing while the speaker speaks. It is false psychology to 
assume that men can listen and do nothing; for the mere 
listening to words and sounds is itself something that is done, 
and often it is hard work, involving much strain and exertion; 
sometimes very hard, gruelling work, indeed. 



230 BETTER SPEECH 

There are many things a Speaker can ask of his audience. 
The following is a suggestive list of purposes: 

1. Hear my voice. 

2. Understand my words. 

3. Understand my ideas and beliefs, this theory, this explana- 

tion, this point of view. 

4. Think over what I am telling you. 

5. Accept my beliefs. 

6. Change your beliefs to this of mine. 

7. Prepare to vote my party ticket, to accept my religion, my 

code of morals, my social customs, my view of life and 
nature. 

8. Decide to follow these teachings. 

9. Make up your mind to do this thing I am asking of you. 

10. Adopt this course of action. 

11. Vote my way. 

12. Pledge your support, your money, your cooperation. 

13. Subscribe to this cause. 

14. Give your money. 

15. Work for this organization, school, party, church, cause. 

16. Go forth to serve, fight, carry the gospel. 

17. Give your all. 

18. Offer your life for your principles. 

Thus, from the mere invitation to listen politely, on to 
the demand that your hearer think, believe, purpose to do, 
to engage in some specific action, and on further to doing all a 
man can possibly do — through all these stages the Speaker 
is asking the people before him to do something. 

Now unless he knows what it is he wants them to do, he 
has made no sort of start; he merely is ready for a bit of 
public meditation or platform rambling. The very first 
thing you must do, then, to insure a successful public speech, 
is to have your mind made up on what you are going to do to 
your audience; what you are going to induce them to do. Un- 
less you plan to leave them different at the end from at the 
beginning, and in just the way you want them to be different, 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 231 

you have only a hit-or-miss chance for success. It is like 
throwing a ball with your eyes shut. 

EXERCISES 

Step 1. Have a Definite Purpose 

What Purposes are worth using in the following situations? (Con- 
sult the list on page 230.) 

(a) Regular Sunday church sermon. 

(b) Addressing a chamber of commerce. 

(c) Making an appeal for support of athletics, to a school as- 

sembly. 

(d) A political rally. 

(e) To a legislative body. 

(f) At a Memorial Day service. 

(g) At the dedication of a statue or memorial building, 
(h) At a school commencement. 

(i) Addressing a meeting for civic betterment. 

(j) To soldiers going into battle. 

(k) To a woman's club. 

(1) To a farmer's cooperative society. 

(m) Addressing a body of scientists. 

Considering the Audience 

Step 2. Know Your Audience 

The Commonest Human Tendencies 

To be able to make successful public speeches, you must 
know enough about human nature to know the springs that 
make human beings act. Most of these springs are hidden 
from sight; but they are always present. The commonest 
of them are the most valuable to know in trying to get 
audiences to do your will. There are four general tendencies, 
or wishes, that are necessary to successful living; and every 
person is moved by these common tendencies. They are: 

(1) Seeking Protection (3) Securing Social Recognition 

(2) Securing Possessions (4) Engaging in Activity 



232 BETTER SPEECH 

Tendency 1 : Seeking Protection 

In desiring an audience to give you what you wish, keep 
in mind that every last one of them is looking out for his 
own skin; he is wary, alert to keep out of trouble, unwilling 
to go anywhere or do anything that lets him in for worry 
or discomfort. He knows that this or that belief will cause 
him distress, certain attitudes and purposes will overturn 
the regular routine of his life, and that such and such actions 
will get him into difficulty. So when he comes into a public 
meeting, and especially when the speaker seems to be try- 
ing to get something out of him, he keeps his defensive 
armor on. 

This tendency to avoid danger shows in such common ways 
as: 

Avoidance of physical pain 

Reluctance to make any special effort or strain 

Willingness to let things go as they are 

A determination not to try new things that look too dangerous 

A tendency to doubt whatever seems to go against the present 

order 
A willingness to reject whatever looks suspicious or troublesome 
Avoidance of too much mental effort 
Escape from anguish or mental pain 
Looking gift horses in the mouth 
Being wary of the "Greeks bringing gifts" 
Taking no unseemly chances. 

Audiences are likely to be more suspicious and inert than 
individuals; so it pays to keep these self -protective traits 
of human nature always in mind. For if you wish your 
audience to go against any of these tendencies, you must 
have special reasons and must make special efforts. 

Tendency 2: Securing Possessions 

When a man feels that he is safe from dangers, he next 
looks around to find out how to get on in the world. The 






PUBLIC SPEAKING 233 

first thing he discovers is that he has to look out for, not 
today only, as in protecting himself from danger, but for 
the next hour, the next day, the next year. So he sets about 
to get his living and to make it secure. This means that 
he has a desire to get a sure supply of food, clothing, shelter, 
and all that goes with them. This trait of human nature is 
one of the easiest to pick out. It is as necessary as getting 
out of the way of falling bricks, avoiding the rain or snow, or 
refusing to accept beliefs that we do not like. 
This trait shows in such ways as the following : 

Getting food and drink 

Earning a salary or wages 

Holding one's position 

Saving money 

Hoarding up supplies and things to be needed 

Hoarding up things not needed but desired 

Securing a fortune 

Owning things generally; pride of possession 

Having what others do not have, whether useful or not 

Just getting hold of things for the sake of the getting 

In complex society, where we have cities and neighborhoods 
and social groups of all kinds, this trait becomes immensely 
important. America has become a uation of " go-getters," 
if we may use a phrase more vigorous than elegant. Yet 
the same necessity really holds for all peoples; complex 
society demands that we make sure of the supply of things 
we want and need. So we collect and hoard all the time, and 
are unwilling to let go without good cause or to give up the 
getting unless we have the best of reasons. 

Tendency 3: Securing Social Recognition 

Shelter and protection we must have to live at all, food 
and possessions we must have to sustain life and to get bodily 
comfort; but if we are to have peace of mind in living among 



234 BETTER SPEECH 

others we must also have each his " place in the sun." Life 
in a complex society is a constant struggle; the person who 
merely waits for someone else to look after his interests has 
to be especially favored with protectors and feeders. He 
needs to be in an asylum or a home for the weak and in- 
digent. Most of us mortals prefer to make our own way and 
stand on our own feet; we would rather buy our own gasoline 
than be towed. 

As we grow up we find that there are always several of us 
trying to get the same thing. So we make a race of it to see 
who is to be in front or at the top. We find that those up in 
front get first choice and the most notice; so we try hard to 
be in the lead. We even elbow and shove a bit to get there; 
unless we have learned the most important of all social 
lessons, that it is better in the long run to keep the good will 
of those with whom we have to live, and that it actually is 
"better to give than to receive." But it requires years of 
hard experience really to learn this and to act upon it. 
Even then we enter into a race to see which can be the most 
generous, the most kind, the most easy to get along 
with! 

The tendency to strive for place and power shows in ways 
like these: 

Aiming to please 

Getting the attention of others; getting one's self noticed 

Being listened to; " holding the floor" 

Securing consideration ahead of others 

Being popular with the opposite sex 

Mating successfully 

Being talked about, " getting your name in the papers," securing 

publicity 
Working for a good reputation; and avoiding a bad one 
Securing a place on people's "lists," getting invitations, 

elections to membership; recognition 
Holding office 
Possessing the power to govern the lives of others 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 235 

This trait is especially significant in the matter of Public 
Speaking, because, you can see, it is essentially a matter of 
social relations, and public speaking involves a social relation. 
This trait concerns us most when we are out among people; 
people in an audience are most of the time almost painfully 
conscious that they are out exposed to view and that people 
can see everything they do. Consequently they always 
have a weather eye out for how they look and act, so their 
behavior will not affect what others think of them and thus 
injure their social standing. In a public place they are 
keenly conscious of the rung of the social ladder under their 
feet, and have no wish to make a false step or to be pushed 
off or down to a lower rung. The public speaker who leaves 
this trait out of account is likely to miss the most important 
thing in what the audience really is and what it is thinking 
about; for it is a group of people considerably worried about 
how they are behaving and how they are being received. 
They are always thinking about how best to keep their reputa- 
tion or add to the reputation they already have. 

Tendency 4 : Engaging in Activity 

Even after men are protected and fed and given a place in 
the world, they are still unsatisfied. They must be on the 
go, doing something, keeping from getting stagnant or rusting 
out. So you will always find it a part of every normal human 
equipment to want to be active, to be occupied with some- 
thing. When we are not resting, we are somehow on the 
move; using legs, arms, hands, head, speech apparatus, and 
the machinery of thinking. We have to be like that to keep 
our health; it is the way we get impurities out of the blood 
and keep ourselves fit. To be inactive is to be sick, while 
to be totally inert is to be dead. 

So the speaker casting about for tendencies and dispositions 
in an audience can always be sure that they like to be doing 



236 BETTER SPEECH 

something. Let him know in what direction their energies 
are moving, and he can go far toward guiding them. He 
can be sure that they are always getting new ideas, harbor- 
ing new projects, entertaining new hopes and ambitions. 
Especially is this true of people who gather in public places; 
their very presence is evidence that they are the active kind, 
the alert ones, the people of energy and ideas. The other 
kind stay at home and read the paper or go to sleep. Even 
those who go to the picture show desire action; they like to 
see those things done which they themselves wish they had 
the opportunity or the ability to do. This is chiefly what 
draws any of us to the theatre. 

This trait is most easily understood by observing little 
children and dumb animals. The child that is not continu- 
ally active is in a bad way. He is not well and needs treat- 
ment. A healthy child ought to spend the waking day in 
running, wriggling, jumping, walking, twisting, bending, 
and talking. When he is older he ought to be just as active, 
but not so much visibly; he should not let others see him 
do all the things his muscles do. For one thing, he thinks 
more and talks less. 

Also of men and women, the best kind is the active kind 
and the poorest is the lazy or stupid. All great men are 
active men, active in body or thinking powers or both. They 
are great doers, and are never so happy as when starting 
something new and finishing up something already started. 
So, the more keen and alert your audience, the more you can 
depend upon it that they are ready to take up with new 
activities, new enterprises, new ideas, convictions, and 
purposes, and that they like to be "stirred." 

This trait shows in such ways as the following: 

Fondness for bodily movement 

Play 

Taking exercise 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 237 

Games, recreation 
Amusements 

Making things with the hands 
Building 

Devising, inventing 
Study, inquiring, reading 
Research, scholarly investigation, science 
Going on voyages of discovery 
Travel 

Employing one 's self in art activities 
Furnishing amusement for others 
Organizing enterprises, business, social activities 
Making things go; politically, socially, economically, religiously 
Mastering men and affairs 

Building up business and fortunes beyond needs and require- 
ments. 
Keeping at work when one's work is really ended 

This impulse has a great place in public address. Most 
men are active in politics for no other reason than the fun 
they get out of being busy among their fellows. Rich men 
in business stay there in order to keep active. A very large 
number of church workers are kept at their tasks by their 
desire, even the necessity, for doing something and some- 
thing worth while. People who get up parties, dances, 
entertainments, money drives, even philanthropic enter- 
prises, are moved in part by the same necessity for keeping 
active. And most common of all, people who talk much and 
long, verily the gossip too, do it all too often because they 
have nothing else to keep them occupied. People even use 
this when they day-dream, idly using thought activities 
when the rest of the body is at rest and inert. So you can 
lean heavily on the assurance that this trait in audiences is 
always ready for use. 



238 BETTER SPEECH 

EXERCISES 

Step 2. Studying the Tendencies of Your Audience 

1. State some purposes that cannot easily succeed with: 

(a) Farmers (f) Members of Secret Societies 

(b) Merchants (g) Ministers 

(c) High School Students (h) Mothers 

(d) Labor Unionists (i) Society " Lights" 

(e) Ex-service men (j) Rotarians or Kiwanians 

2. Make a list of the three most live tendencies of: 
(a) A man sentenced to jail (f) A " lounge lizard" 



(b) A sailor on shore leave 


(g) An actor 




(c) An arctic explorer 




(h) An attorney for 


a corporation 


(d) A botanist 




(i) An heiress 




(e) A girl stenographer 




(j) An aviator 






(k) A jockey 





3. Name three tendencies that would prove obstructive in: 

(a) Asking a corporation board of directors to pass dividends. 

(b) Trying to induce a football team to "lie down" and lose 

a game. 

(c) Urging mothers to sanction gambling. 

(d) Asking a trades union to accept lower wages. 

(e) Asking merchants to sanction buying from mail-order 

houses. 

4. Name the motives or tendencies most alert in: " 

(a) A national political party Convention. 

(b) The United States Senate. 

(c) A meeting of a philosophical society. 

(d) A society of authors. 

(e) A chamber of commerce. 

(f) A manufacturers' association. 

(g) A general church synod or conference, 
(h) A meeting of ex-soldiers. 

(i) A neighborhood welfare club, 
(j) A card club, 
(k) A lodge. 
6. Name the Tendencies which are appealed to in: 

(a) Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. 

(b) A lecture on "Canals on Mars." 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 239 

(c) Washington's Farewell Address. 

(d) Lincoln's Second Inaugural. 

(e) A lecture on "The Peace Treaty." 

6. The following " Impelling Motives" are used by some* as the 
basis for analysing audiences: 

1. Self-Preservation. 

2. Property. 

3. Power. 

4. Reputation. 

5. Affections. (Love of family, country, mankind.) 

6. Sentiments. (Sense of right, honor, justice.) 

7. Tastes. (Love of the beautiful.) 

Make a paragraph talk on the following Topics, using one or more 
of these " Impelling Motives" as the basis of selecting what you 
have to say: 

(a) This class needs a new recitation room. 

(b) Peace is desirable at any price (or is not desirable). 

(c) This city needs to adopt the ' ' City Manager ' ' plan. 

(d) You owe it to yourselves to be loyal to your country. 

(e) The study of Shakespeare is a good thing for all high 

school pupils. 

(f) The home is the bulwark of our society. 

(g) Live clean to enjoy the best fruits of life, 
(h) Our party is the only one fit to rule. 

(i) " Tis only noble to be good." 
(j) " Nothing succeeds like success." 
(k) ' ' The wages of sin is death . ' ' 

WHAT THE SPEECH PROPOSES: SECURING UNITY 

Step 3. State Your Case in a Proposition 
Every prepared speech has a proposal to make to the 
audience: the speaker is in a way a wooer; he has something 
to propose; or in more everyday language, he has a proposi- 
tion to make. For best results he should know what that 
Proposition is; otherwise he can hardly know what he is 
aiming at. A Proposition gives him a target, a bull's eye to 
hit; without it he will only " shoot at the flock" and, as 
usual, hit nothing. 

* Effective Speaking, A. E. Phillips. 



240 BETTER SPEECH 

Keeping in mind what you want done and the chances 
for getting it from the audience you are thinking about, put 
your whole case into one sentence. 

If you want an audience to accept a new view of city 
policy, of the tariff, or of religion, put your case (for your 
own enlightenment and guidance) like thus: 

1. "This city should lower taxes (or should build a new city hall, 
or put in a new sewer system, or build new schools)." 

2. " America cannot be prosperous with a high tariff (or low 
tariff)." 

3. "True religion is to give yourself to (whatever you believe 
proper)." 

Examples of Propositions suitable to various situations are: 

1. To keep the audience from getting restless or leaving 
the hall: 

"Since I have the floor, you must listen." 

"These stories will interest you." 

"These remarks interest me; they may interest you." 

2. To amuse or entertain your audience: 

"We surely had a wild night." 

"Babies are funny things." (Mark Twain.) 

"The women, God bless 'em, are our greatest joy." (Gen- 
eral Horace Porter.) 

"I am overpowered at the wonders of Duluth." (Proctor 
Knott.) 

3. To describe an incident; as a hunting trip: 

"We had a remarkable time out hunting the other day." 

"I never went on a duller hunt." 

"We got the biggest bag of the season last Saturday." 

4. To explain how something works; a principle, machine, 
etc. : 

"The turbine works on the principle of least resistance." 
" International law is in a state of chaos at present." 
"The human mind presents strange oddities and twists." 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 241 

5. To secure money or votes or subscriptions at a meeting: 

"The cause of Foreign Missions deserves the full support 

of the congregation." 
"The candidate I represent is the one best suited to the 

interests and beliefs of this audience." 
"The man I nominate for this office will give the best service 

of anyone I know." 
"These flood victims call for aid so pitifully that you cannot 

ignore or reject their needs." 

Wording the Proposition Accurately 

Hardly can one give too much care to getting his Propo- 
sition worded just right. You can speak on the Proposition: 
The world needs peace, and the speech that grows from 
that Proposition is very different indeed from what it would 
be if your Proposition were but slightly different: 

The Nations should find a way of securing peace. 
Still a different speech altogether would come from: 

The nations by disarming can assure peace. 

And still different is: 

The nations should seek peace by cutting armaments at least 
seventy-five per cent. 

A slight change of wording in the Proposition makes a 
vast difference in the speech as given. In particular, watch 
your use of such words as "must," "ought," "can," "will." 

Observe the human traits that must be present if an 
audience can be appealed to by the following Statements; 
consider how unfit the statements are unless the trait ap- 
pealed to (given in the parentheses) is present in your 
audience: 

(a) Our war heroes deserve better treatment at the hands of the 
nation, (gratitude) 



242 BETTER SPEECH 

(b) The need of the hour is law enforcement. (Sense of civic 
orderliness.) 

(c) We need to back a school play. (Desire to see artistic things 
advanced in your circle.) 

(d) Old things are best. (Respect for whatever is established.) 

(e) The days of Caesar are not possible in America. (Desire for 
information, or the desire to have things as they are.) 

(f) Washington was the greatest man of his time. (Either a 
love of Washington, or a desire to know more about him.) 

(g) Corn is the staple product of the Middle West. (Pride in 
being a corn raiser in the Middle West, or interest in learning the 
facts.) 

EXERCISE 

Step 3. Stating Your Purpose in a Proposition 

1. Devise Propositions to fit these circumstances: 

(a) A class president wishes his class to take part in a civic 
pageant. 

(b) The mayor wishes a group of citizens to favor an issue of 
bonds for new street lights. 

(c) A college professor is explaining a point in international 
law. 

(d) A labor leader is trying to keep his men from walking out on 
strike. 

(e) A Fourth-of-July speaker is to address an audience of 
farmers. 

(f) A Senator is advocating a high tariff on wool. 

(g) A representative of the missionary society is asking a con- 
gregation for subscriptions. 

2. Indicate what is at fault in the following Propositions: Revise; 
put the "you" attitude into the Propositions, as for example: 

Situation: To a school assembly needing to be roused to support 
the football team. 

Proposition: Athletics are good for a school. 

Revised: You as a loyal member of the school should do what you 
can to back the team. 

(a) To a Chautauqua audience: 
World peace is a beautiful ideal. 

(b) To a convention of physicians: 
Drugless healing is a good thing. 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 243 

(c) To a group of advertisers : 
Advertising pays. 

(d) To a church congregation: 
Virtue is a great possession. 
Sin does not pay. 
Charity is a great blessing. 

(e) To a legislative body: 
This bill is well conceived. 

The State needs a state police system. 
Our taxes are unjust. 
We need a new criminal code. 
3. Restate the following Propositions to make them more suitable; 
be more accurate in use of words: make the Proposition say only 
what you mean. 

As : To a group of bankers : 
Sound banking is the greatest need of the day. 
Revised: "Much remains to be done to improve banking condi- 
tions." The following are all exaggerated statements: tone them 
down: 

(a) To a body of army men: 

American needs no other defense than her will to conquer. 

(b) To a teachers' institute: 

The faults in our educational system arise chiefly from poor 
teaching. 

(c) To a school board: 

Students ought to carry out all their own discipline. 

(d) To an athletic team: 

You carry all our hopes in your hands. 

(e) To a group of "rooters:" 
Without you the team cannot win. 



Outlining the Speech 

Step 4. Select Statements that Make Your Point; 
Support Your Proposition in an Outline 

The best outline is made of complete declarative sentences. 
This point cannot be made too emphatic; catch-phrases are 
a snare and a cheat; if you try to make a speech from such 
scraps as the following: 



244 BETTER SPEECH 

School Loyalty 
A large school 
Supporting the teams 
Doing your work well 
Standing by the teachers 
A bigger and better school 

you stand every chance in the world of getting off the track, 
saying too much or too little, and of forgetting what the 
whole thing is about. 

On the other hand, if you put these same ideas into com- 
plete declarative sentences, you will readily see that you have 
a guide which, if followed, will prevent you from getting 
switched, as: 

Proposition; You owe the school a full measure of loyalty. 
We have a large school. 

A large school like this ought to support its teams well. 
Moreover, it should show a high level of scholarship. 
This is hardly possible unless each student stands faithfully 

by his teachers and his work. 
If every member will do these three things well, we shall help 

the school and so prove our loyalty. 

So, then, if you use full declarative sentences, and if you 
make them support your Proposition, you perform one of 
the necessities of all good composition, whether for writing 
or for speaking; you gain unity. 

Making Your Point 

1. So long as you talk sentences and make them bear on 
your main point, Unity is assured. 

2. Then if you join these Statements logically, so that 
each statement connects in sense with the one before and 
the one following, you insure good Coherence. This keeps 
you on the track, and prevents the audience from unneces- 
sary wool-gathering. 

3. Finally, if you arrange these Outline sentences in the 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 245 

order that best takes account of your audience's feelings, 
wishes, fears, dislikes, and hobbies, you make provision for 
Emphasis. By so doing you can begin on the same emotional 
level as that on which you find your audience, and then are 
ready to lead them whither you will — and can. 

Outlining to Fit Your Audience 

How is this done? When you have made up your mind 
what you want to do to your audience and then have studied 
that audience so that you know their wishes and desires, 
their ambitions, likes, and dislikes, and fears, then you are 
ready to prepare an Outline that will be effective with that 
particular group of people. You are in a position to shoot 
at a target, and not at a landscape. 

You accomplish this by finding a set of statements that you 
regard as Facts, which when rightly put together seem to you 
to be adequate support of your Proposition and your Purpose. 
Remember that an outline is always for the Speaker, and 
most of the time for him only. Rather seldom does a speaker 
disclose his outline to his audience — ninety-five per cent of 
the time the speaker does not tell an audience just how he is 
going to go at them. So the outline is primarily and pecu- 
liarly for the Speaker. 

How do you know what Statements will support the Propo- 
sition adequately? By reference to the human nature of your 
Audience. 

Suppose you have a church audience and your Proposition 
is, "The cause of foreign missions calls for the liberal sup- 
port of every member of this congregation.' ' In support 
of this you would like to say, "The heathen have a claim on 
your support;" yet in your congregation are men who have 
been struck by an industrial slump and are feeling that they 
are treated rather harshly by the rest of mankind; they 
want to receive help rather than give it. In such a case that 



246 BETTER SPEECH 

particular Statement would not do, even if you could argue 
it to your own complete satisfaction. You would have to 
revise it to fit a different mood of these men. Assume that 
they are ardent supporters of their denomination: then you 
might have in mind as an effective Outline Statement, 
"The heathen are being brought into other churches by the 
thousands;" or knowing that your auditors are people of 
deep sympathy, even though feeling ungenerous, you could 
talk on the Statement, "The people of China are so much 
worse off than we that they deserve help at our hands." 

Again, if you are talking to high school students, and your 
Proposition is, "We need an honor system in this school for 
conducting examinations," you might possibly get some- 
where by using as an Outline Statement, "Honor is the 
greatest possession man has," yet it is very doubtful indeed; 
for abstractions like that make little impression on high 
school students, don't they? Whereas, a discussion along 
the line of "If we learn honor here in school, we shall be 
better prepared to face the world after we graduate," would 
touch off a much more lively spring in high school students. 

EXERCISE 

Step 4. Choosing Outline Statements That "Make Your 

Point " 

1. Change the following into Outlines of complete sentences co- 
herently connected: as; — 

Proposition: (to a school assembly) "Command of language is 
one of man's most valuable possessions." 

1. The value of books. 

2. Wide reading. 

3. How it affects success. 

4. Words as tools. 

5. Privileges of students. 
Revised: 

1. Everyone knows the value of books. 

2. Books never enjoyed greater popularity than now. 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 247 

3. For men are realizing that without the learning that comes 
from wide reading they cannot succeed. 

4. They see also that success goes often with the greatest com- 
mand of language gained from reading. 

5. So we can safely say that one of the richest privileges of 
school days is to learn to read wisely for increase in the use 
of languages. 

Revise, using complete sentences: 

(a) Proposition: "The need of a school monthly paper calls for 
your financial support." (To a group of high school students.) 

1. Growth of the school. 

2. Cultivating common interests. 

3. Journalism and solidarity. 

4. Plenty of material for editors and writers. 

5. What other schools do. 

6. Meaning of school paper to each student. 

7. Your part. 

(b) Proposition: "The growth of the city makes the need of a 
new sewer system imperative." (To a city council.) 

1. A growing city. 

2. New problems. 

3. Our sewer system. 

4. What we need. 

5. Difficulties. 

6. The City Council's duty. 

7. Better health and a better city. 

(c) Invent other Propositions and support them with complete 
sentences. 

Providing Coherence 

Step 5. Select Outline Sentences on the Basis of 
"Following Up" 

You cannot win an audience without holding their in- 
terest. Interest is very much dependent upon keeping the 
audience's attention from wandering; the speeches that get 
the best results are those that take hold of the audience at 
the start, keep the hold, and do not allow it to break until 
the end. This can be done only by making sure to keep on 



248 BETTER SPEECH 

talking about the same Proposition (Unity), and then making 
sure that the listener cannot escape knowing that you are 
still on the track and aiming to keep there. This is Coher- 
ence; and to cohere means to hold together. Passengers ride 
more comfortably when they have confidence in the track- 
layer and the engineer. 

The following Outline has Unity, but poor Coherence; 
the Statements all concern the same matter, but they do 
not follow each from the one preceding, as all good com- 
position must: 

Title: Need of a New Park 

Proposition: This audience should sign a petition asking the 
city council to establish a new park in the factory district. 

Outline : 

This is an unusually beautiful city. 

Our population has increased rapidly. 

We aim to develop only good citizens. 

Our people need recreation. 

Parks are used by our citizens. 

At present we have not enough parks. 

The factory district is now crowded. 

Give the people in that neighborhood a park. 

This is not entirely without Coherence; but it needs 
cementing. Note now what it reads like when the marks of 
coherence, the conjunctions, the conjunctive phrases, and 
overlapping ideas, are thought out and added : the emphasized 
words are the link words: 

Outline : 

This is an unusually beautiful city. 

But we are confronted with a rapid increase in popula- 
tion. 

This growing population must be made into good citizens. 

One sure way of improving citizenship is to furnish means 
for recreation. 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 249 

In the past, we have found that recreation for the 

largest numbers is had from parks. 
But we have not enough parks at the present for all our 

people. 
And the part of the city most in need of a park is the 

district around the steel mill. 
Moreover, the people in that district have a special 

claim upon the city's attention. 
Thus a responsibility rests upon us to meet this claim by 

providing them with this new means of recreation 

and good citizenship. 

Whenever you can link up the various parts of your speech 
in this "hanging-together" manner, you are giving yourself 
a chance to keep the interest of your audience. Otherwise 
you run an excellent chance of losing it. Study how to get 
this way of " following through" with your ideas. Make 
each Outline Sentence link up with the one before and 
the one following. Do it by abundant conjunctions and by 
over-lapping ideas. 

EXERCISES 

Step 5. Linking Outline Topics Coherently 

1. Develop the following Propositions into Six Topic Statements 
each; then revise these statements so that the marks of logical con- 
nection will be plain to be seen; underscore the link words and 
ideas: 

(a) An open forum would be good for this school. 

(b) We should petition the school board to provide more space 
for recreation. 

(c) Every member of this congregation should give something to 
the Foreign Mission fund. 

(d) The faculty and students of this school must understand 
each other better. 

(e) This club should buy a new outfit of furniture. 



250 BETTER SPEECH 

Types of Outlines 

Step 6. Provide for Continuity According to Your 
General Purpose 

The problem of outlining is the problem first of getting 
started and then of keeping it up. Some speakers cannot 
get started; they do not know where to take hold. Others 
get off on a good foot, and then "peter out," or get lost 
rambling in the woods. The prime business of the Outline 
is to show the speaker where to begin and how to keep going, 
and the not unimportant matter of how to stop. 

For these needs, which are the basis of good outlining, 
let us borrow a term from the moving picture director; he 
has the same problem of keeping things going; he calls it 
Continuity. 

In outlining for a speech the beginning is helped by having 
the right kind of Proposition on which to talk. The problem 
of keeping things going successfully is not so easy; it is one 
of the hardest things about speech-making. The thing that 
has to be done is to avoid all breaks, all gaps, to keep from 
giving shocks and jolts. There are two main kinds of shocks 
you can give an audience, two ways of breaking their in- 
terest and scattering their attentiveness; these are (1) mix- 
ing the sense and (2) going " against the grain" of the audi- 
ence's feelings. Let us state this thought in terms of what 
Continuity must have: 

(1) Logical Consecutiveness; Continuity of Sense. 

(2) Emotional Harmony; Continuity of Attitude and 
Feelings. 

If you allow breaches in Logical Connection, your audience 
cannot follow you; they will not know what the speech is all 
aboub. You will lose them somewhere on the way, and while 
you rattle on, they will be thinking of something else than 
the speech — or will misunderstand what you are getting at. 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 251 

If you allow breaks in Emotional Harmony, your audience 
will surely lose their desire to follow you with confidence 
and sympathy. This is the basis of tact and diplomacy, two 
necessary factors in all public address. Approach by sure 
paths of attitude, feeling, even prejudice; continue along 
lines safe to your purpose, and close by appealing to feelings 
and attitudes that best accomplish your purpose. 

Continuity and Outlining 

Now what is the best way of making outlines on the basis 
of Continuity? How can we know what kind of Outline to 
use in any particular case? The answer is found in studying 
the various kinds of Purposes you can have in going before 
an audience. Do you want them merely to listen, or do you 
want to enlighten them? Do you want them to vote, give 
money, change their beliefs, devote their lives to a cause or 
a mission? This you must know before you speak, and the 
difference in the outline you make must be made on this 
basis of the difference in Purpose. 

The General Purposes 

How can we classify purposes to help outlining and speech- 
making? There are many ways, but the one that will help 
you most is on the basis of the difficulty of the task you face. 
Getting people to go to war or to join the church is harder 
than getting them to vote in a public meeting or to give 
money in public. Inducing them to expose their views and 
opinions in public is harder than getting them to change 
their opinions or views in secret or without exposing the 
change; while this is in turn harder than getting them to 
understand what you mean. Easiest of all is merely to have 
them listen attentively while you talk, more or less at random. 

All Purposes for Speeches can be grouped into five General 
Classes : which is the same as saying that there are five general 



252 BETTER SPEECH 

types of things you can ask your audience to do. They are 
given here with the easiest first and the hardest last: 

1. Attentiveness 

2. Understanding 

3. Deciding 

4. Acting Publicly 

5. Yielding Fully 

A brief explanation of these will help the Speaker to think 
straight when deciding how to arrange his Outline to fit 
his Audience. 

Here is a summary of the rules for gaining Continuity 
for each of the five General Purposes: 

1. Attentiveness: 

No problem of Continuity: Just be interesting sentence by 
sentence, idea by idea. 

2. Understanding: 

(a) Logical Consecutiveness must be strictly maintained. 

(b) Emotional Harmony not really a problem. 

3. Deciding: 

(a) Logical Consecutiveness : must be strict. 

(b) Emotional Harmony: avoid giving unnecessary offense. 
4 Acting Publicity: 

(a) Logical Consecutiveness must be strict. 

(b) Emotional Harmony must be strict. 
5. Yielding Fully: 

Both Logical Consecutiveness and Emotional Harmony 
must be as strong as rare talent or long practice can 
make them. 

GENERAL PURPOSE 1: ATTENTIVENESS 

A considerable amount of Speech Making seems to have 
no other purpose than to ask the audience to attend politely 
and not get restless; to listen amiably and not leave the hall. 
It is very common indeed; sometimes painfully so. We 
might say of it that it is Speech-making at its lowest level; 
for such it is when not done well. Yet there are times when 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 253 

it is precisely the thing to fit the occasion and when the 
speaker has no other choice. The problem, then, of course, 
is to see that it is done well. 

After-dinner speaking is very much on this order; it can be 
done very boringly, or it can be done very brilliantly. At 
other times a speaker is called upon just to keep the audience 
in good nature until some more distinguished or special 
speaker arrives at the place of meeting. This happens rather 
often in political campaigns. In Congress they do the same 
thing when trying to delay action on a bill; not very desirable, 
but a rather common practice. Then again an audience is 
anxious to hear a famous man but not in a sober lecture or 
address, and he serves the occasion best by saying what 
occurs to him at the moment, mostly in the way of personal 
reminiscence or jocularity. There are Chautauqua lecturers 
who have little more claim to fame than just this, that they 
say things so charmingly or humorously or excitingly that 
no matter what it is all about the people seem to hear them 
gladly. It is most useful and common in social gatherings, 
where people are in a restful mood and willing to be enter- 
tained. 

Under this General Purpose, to get the audience to follow 
with Interest, we can classify the following kinds of speeches: 

Chautauqua or Lyceum address for entertainment only. 

Af ter-Dinner speaking of the lighter order. 

Holding a meeting until another speaker arrives. 

Keeping the crowd in good humor during any pause. 

Getting the crowd "tuned up" for more weighty matters. 

Making the best of a fixed meeting that has not much to do. 

Lightening the spirit of an audience that has grown tired but has 
more business to do. 

Concluding a heavy meeting to send the people away in good 
spirits. 



254 BETTER SPEECH 

Outlining for Attentiveness 
Be Interesting 

When the speaker merely wishes to hold his audience at- 
tentive and interested, his problem in outlining is very simple. 
This is because the problem of Continuity is practically no 
problem at all. If he can say interesting sentences, and keep 
to the use of interesting ideas and ways of presenting them, 
there is no great issue whether they show Logical Connec- 
tion or Emotional Harmony. Artemus Ward, the great 
humorist and lecturer made his lectures funny largely be- 
cause they were so disconnected and nonsensically incoherent. 

This type is revealed by the speaker who can hold an 
audience with one story after another, even though they 
have no logical or emotional connection. After-dinner 
speakers may trump up a connection for the sake of appear- 
ance when they say "That reminds me," but it is mostly 
an excuse for dragging in something entirely disconnected, 
for Logical Connection is one of the least of the troubles of 
the man who must ask people merely to attend. 

The same with Emotional Harmony; there is little chance 
of giving offense or of stopping up the avenues of attentive 
listening under these circumstances. Good entertainers 
and after-dinner speakers and "fillers-in" keep going ex- 
cellently and to the satisfaction of their audiences with- 
out any effort to make one situation flow from the one 
preceding. 

Choose Interesting Material. The reason is that if you 
want to get attention and hold it for such a purpose as this, 
the whole responsibility is to use interesting stuff. A good 
story needs no introduction or excuse for the telling; it is 
almost always in order. A swift and stirring narrative of 
events, personal adventure, incidents about prominent men — 
all these stand on their own feet as catchers and holders of 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 255 

attention. They do it about as well in one order as another. 
The same with light badinage about the people present on 
the platform, with repartee between the speaker and the 
chairman or toastmaster, a recital of the events of the day 
or week, 'personal comment concerning the people on the 
platform. 

For this sort of Purpose a speaker can even get on success- 
fully — if he is skilled and not easily frightened out of his 
wits — by means of mere catch words for an Outline; as 

Why are we here 

The story of the man with a wooden leg 

General Grant's reply 

The dog with the chewed ear 

How the Greeks did it 

Saints and sinners 

This may mean nothing — except to the speaker who made 
it; but any Outline is only for the speaker anyway. So if it 
works — it works. But for beginners it is the surest way in the 
world of getting off the track and losing what they hope for 
from the meeting. 

A better way is to fall back upon the full sentence: 

We are here to celebrate our victory. 

The man with the wooden leg illustrates the point. 

It is illustrated also by what General Grant once said. 

Contrasted with this is the incident of the dog with the chewed ear. 

Thus we can follow the example of the Greeks. 

And so we prove that the same rule applies to saints and sinners. 

Now in neither case can we get any hint from the Outline 
as to how interesting or sparkling the speech will be — or 
was; but a speaker who has sparkling ideas and the gift of 
stating them with snap, dan hold his audience with such an 
outline. 

But all he can hope to get from his audience under such 
circumstances is their attention, for the moment. 



256 BETTER SPEECH 

GENERAL PURPOSE 2: UNDERSTANDING 

This is probably the most common kind of Speech-making. 
At any rate, it is commonest in speeches given in schools 
and colleges. We may add to these the very large number 
of public lectures in which the primary aim is to enlighten 
people on such subjects as, 

What is going on in China. 

How poison gas works. 

The meaning of Relativity. 

The way to rotate crops. 

The new constitution of Checko-Slovakia. 

Daily life among the Aztecs. 

The further civilization advances, the more numerous do 
such lectures and addresses become; accordingly, the type 
needs careful study. 

In some ways this is the hardest kind of speech to make; 
it so easily becomes dry, juiceless, clouded with wordy dust. 
More people are put to sleep while an unskilled speaker drones 
his way through something he wants them to understand, 
than under any other circumstances. Grasping new ideas 
is hard work, and most audiences are lazy; so the task of 
keeping people interested while feeding them information 
is not easy. 

Under this General Purpose, Understanding, come the 
following kinds of speeches: 

Teacher explaining to a class. 

College lecturer. 

Specialist explaining; as engineer, physician, lawyer. 

Clergyman expounding the principles of a creed or doctrine. 

Chautauqua or Lyceum lecturer telling of the workings of a plan 
of government, of the customs of a people, of a scheme for 
business operation, of the history of a people or nation. 

Any explanation or exposition or description of matters not known 
to the audience. 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 257 

Outlining to Get an Audience to Understand 

A. Use Strict Logical Connection 

B. Give No Offense to Feelings 

When it comes to the task of making an audience under- 
stand something they do not already know, there must be 
no incoherence or lack of good connections. Light is con- 
tinuous; if it is broken it becomes darkness. So when trying 
to induce understanding a speaker must be prepared to 
eliminate gaps and to avoid jumps. This means that he has 
to provide for careful Logical Connection from one part of 
his Outline to the next. Each idea must flow from the one 
before and must lead to the one following. Otherwise there 
will be no attentive following by the audience all the way 
through. There can be little continuity of attention from 
people trying to piece together broken bits of information 
thrown together hit-or-miss. 

The following Outline would make for misunderstanding 
and cloudiness, instead of for understanding and clearness. 

The Neighborhood of Boston 
Proposition: Boston is a more important city than the census 

indicates. 
Boston is a large city. 
The Charles River separates it from surrounding 

towns. 
All the street car systems radiate from Boston. 
The neighboring towns use Boston for trading. 
There are several good-sized cities adjoining Boston. 
Boston proper is much given to business. 
A high percentage of business men live out of the 

city. 

Suppose now we improve the arrangement of this material 
so that it does two things: (1) Allows for a better logical 
order, a closer connection of ideas; and (2) reveals the visible 
marks of connection. 



258 BETTER SPEECH 

What we know as Boston is only a part of the real city. 

Several good-sized cities adjoin Boston proper. 

These cities are all connected with Boston by street-car lines 

centering in the city itself. 
Thus the neighboring towns use Boston for a business centre. 
And as a consequence many Boston business men live outside of 

the city proper. 
The effect of this is to make the census figures unrepresentative 

of the real size and significance of Boston as a city. 

GENERAL PURPOSE 3: DECIDING 

The next type of Purpose, to get an audience to decide, 
is quite different from getting them to understand. Accord- 
ingly, it offers a different problem in preparation. People can 
understand an idea without accepting it as true; for they can 
understand you so thoroughly sometimes that they are 
perfectly sure that you are all wrong. You can go on making 
things clearer and clearer to their understandings but more 
and more offensive to their tastes and contrary to their 
beliefs. So the mere making of things understandable, by 
no means makes them acceptable. The better a man under- 
stands that he is confronting a rattle snake, the more sure he 
is he wants to get out of its way. That is how some people 
feel toward certain ideas. 

Getting people to decide, differs from getting them to 
understand in that it is a method for those who already think 
they understand perfectly. The uninformed or ignorant 
person is not troubled by restraining beliefs and convictions, 
and is convinced so soon as you enlighten him or make your 
point clear; but the man of convictions feels that he is as 
near right as any one else, maybe nearer. So to win him 
is quite a different thing from giving him understanding. 

So making decisions is a very distinct task and needs a 
separate kind of treatment. Speakers sometimes make the 
mistake of thinking that if they make themselves clear, the 
audience cannot help believing. But they flatter themselves 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 259 

too highly, thinking that their ideas are so powerful that 
men, once they understand, must believe. It is not so. To 
get a change of Belief is often a pretty severe task. 

Types of speeches made with this purpose in mind are: 

Political speaker trying to affect the opinion of voters. 
College lecturer trying to correct false notions of students. 
Chautauqua or Lyceum lecturer giving his audience a new point 

of view on an old subject. 
Clergyman asking his congregation to accept higher standards of 

morality or social conduct. 
Street corner agitator seeking to make converts to his faith. 
Evangelist convicting people of the error of their way. 
Any effort at preparing hearers for future conduct; for voting, 

joining, behaving, thinking. 

Outlining to Induce an Audience to Make a Decision 

A. Use Strict Logical Connection 

B. Study how to Use the Audience's Feelings 

Making a decision is always a very personal matter; if it 
really is a decision, it has consequences for the future, some- 
times of a most momentous nature. If you decide that you 
are going to join the church or go to college or give to a cer- 
tain cause or vote a certain ticket, you are throwing your 
whole self into a new enterprise. If you make a real decision, 
then you affect your life, and this means you must readjust 
your wishes, your ambitions, your hopes and fears, your likes 
and dislikes. 

Accordingly, the man who proposes to change your life 
must lay his plans with care. He must pay especial attention 
to Emotional Harmony, starting on safe ground and pro- 
gressing by stages from attitude to attitude as best suits his 
purpose. To get you to decide to join a society or organiza- 
tion, he is not very likely to succeed by telling of its weak 
points first, or by ending with a concession that you are 
probably pretty happy outside as you now are. 



260 BETTER SPEECH 

Obviously he must be logically sensible; so now we can say 
he must do both; he must be Logically Coherent, and Emotion- 
ally Harmonious. Otherwise he cannot hold people closely 
enough to bring them to a new decision. 

Suppose a high school principal is trying to induce a boy 
to decide to go to college. He can do this only as he can 
make going to college seem worth while to the boy; that is, 
he must appeal to the boy's dominant tendencies and wishes. 
To make his appeal he must draw on the right feelings and 
desires, and then must go after them in the right order. 

How would this list of reasons affect the boy's nature? 

Going to college will help mankind. 
It will cultivate your aesthetic taste. 
You will afterwards be more graceful. 
Your friends will say you are wise and good. 

All we can say is that if these reasons "take", he is a 
somewhat unusual boy. 

What about this list of reasons? 

You will be "in the swim." 
You will dress better and be lionized at home. 
There will be more fun for you in the next four years. 
Maybe you can thus meet with those who can " feather your 
nest." 

It is the easiest way you can spend a few years pleasantly. 

What we can fairly say about this is that all too many boys 
decide to go to college for just these reasons. But high 
school principals don't have to select these for their argu- 
ments. 

A better list would be, combining these two, adding others, 
and using an impelling order: 

You want to make your life count as heavily as possible. 
The one best way to do that is to be prepared for the struggle of 
life. 
Nowadays this means that you must be able to meet men. 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 261 

Also that you must know the past and the present. 

By going to college you can attain these two ends. 

Then you will add the by-products of being noted of others, of 
enjoying life better, and of being allied with the things men every- 
where like best — beauty, activity, and influence. 

Possibly this is not an ideal way; but it would fit many 
boys, and is what an elder adviser can conscientiously use. 
Note the marks of Logical Connection in the italicized words, 
so that if the man who uses this as his Outline, feels that he 
has here the effective reasons planned in the best order, he 
can go ahead with this as an Outline in the expectancy of 
keeping the interest and attention of his audience in his sub- 
ject. In any case he can solve the problem of his plan, his 
Outline, only on these lines. 

GENERAL PURPOSE 4. ACTING PUBLICLY 

People can Understand and can also Change Opinion 
without letting anybody else know about it. Consequently 
they feel much freer to do so when unobserved than when 
other people can see that they are committing themselves 
openly. What they do by themselves alone is more easy to 
do than what they do in the public eye. 

Certain it is that the speaker must know what he is about 
when he asks men to Take a Public Stand. He must use very 
special methods if he is to induce men to reveal their innermost 
wishes and intentions. 

Examples of this kind of appeal are: 

Inducing any kind of oral promise or pledge; saying Yes, or 

No, etc. 
Getting a show of hands. 
Getting a viva voce vote. 

Inducing people to stand as a mark of approval or as a vote. 
Getting people to put money into a collection box. 
Inducing people to subscribe money or to make a written pledge. 
Inducing people to reveal in any way how they stand on the 

issue before the meeting. 



262 BETTER SPEECH 

Outlining to Induce an Audience to Act Publicly 

A. Use Strict Logical Connection 

B. Exercise Ingenuity in Aiming at Feelings and Attitudes 

This task differs from the three preceding — Outlining for 
getting Attention, for inducing Understanding, or for making 
Decisions. It asks something still harder; it goes one step 
further. To get us to expose our decision or change of 
heart is clearly more of a task. In general men in public 
places prefer to keep out of sight, to be left unnoticed, not 
to be singled out and discovered. 

Making an Outline for this General Purpose requires 
care in Logical Connection, but positive keenness in se- 
lecting reasons that hit off personal and group traits of 
character. You have to pry deep, most of the time, into 
human wishes if you are to get men to take a public stand. 

So the Outline requirements for inducing a Public Stand 
are these: 

(1) Be careful of Logical Connection. 

(2) Use all your ability for keeping Emotional Harmony. 

The following Outline has Logical Connection, and a 
certain measure of Emotional Harmony: 

Proposition: (to an audience of farmers.) 

You will gain by joining this cooperative marketing combination. 

Outline: 

The farmer is the backbone of the country, 

As such he needs all the help we can give him. 

Especially does he need to cooperate with his fellow- 
farmers. 

Yet the farmer is at present in financial distress, owing 
to the low prices of grain. 

Cooperative marketing has helped in some cases. 

So we ca n infer that it will help the farmer now. 

Thus we shall have greater equality between producer 
and distributer, or middle-man. 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 263 

But such an Outline as the above would be valuable only to 
get men to Understand the value of cooperative buying. 
It does not ask for any public stand, and will induce none. 
To get them to join, however, something more "pulling" 
must be found; their desires must be roused. 
As: 

The farmer is hard pressed today. 

Unless aid comes in some guise he and the nation will suffer. 

To meet situations like the present, cooperative marketing has 
given genuine relief. 

Cutting out the middle-man's profits saves the farmer enough to 
keep him afloat financially. 

In addition it helps the farmer to get his grain moved more 
promptly. 

And it has the further advantage of providing a body of voters 
united to make their influence count in legislation. 

As evidence of all this the farmers of the neighboring county are 
getting these benefits and getting ahead of you here. 

Therefore, if you want to get these benefits now, you must join 
this evening. 

The advantage of this kind of Outline is that it aims right 
at the personal interests of the audience; it has the "you" 
appeal. Only so can it be made to lead to the public act 
desired; in this case, joining the association. Any one of 
these Statements, if true, hits the farmer right where he is 
most sensitive; and the cumulative effect of them probably is 
enough to bring him into the open. 

The rule for Outlining to induce a public stand is: 
Use Outline Statements that make a direct pull upon 
live interests, or wishes of the audience and arrange them in 
the order of progressive effectiveness. That is, so arrange 
them that the pull becomes stronger and stronger until 
finally it is strong enough to bring success. 

When trying to induce a public disclosure of a man's 
attitude, beware of using an outline that merely asks for 



264 BETTER SPEECH 

understanding, or for a decision which the man can keep 
hidden to himself. In asking for a revelation of intentions and 
wishes, you must go considerably further than in asking for 
what can be concealed. You must probe deep for concealed 
desires and impulses. 

GENERAL PURPOSE 5: YIELDING FULLY 

There is still another distinctly different degree of response 
to be had from audiences; a whole-hearted consecration, 
changing the complete course of a Life, giving all. To get men 
merely to understand passively or to give silent assent or 
even to show how they line up, is not always enough for 
what the speaker wants. He desires something more; he 
wishes them to "give without stint or limit," of themselves, 
of their time, their energy, their allegiance, their devotion, 
their money, and their worldly goods. This takes a very 
different kind of speech from any of the others. 

Types of this are: 

Getting converts to a religion or denomination. 

Inducing people to work whole-heartedly for a church, party, 
"drive," movement of any kind. 

Persuading people to go as agents, workers, missionaries. 

Securing the abiding devotion and allegiance of people to your 
cause or activity. 

Getting decisions that can not be taken back and that involve 
large consequences; as letting a contract, engaging people for em- 
ployment, accepting a position, entering into a contract (including 
engagement and marriage), binding one's self to any given future 
action. Deciding on one's life work. 

Outlining for Inducing People to Yield Fully 

Use All Possible Skill in Logical Consecutiveness and in 
Emotional Harmony 

When a speaker wishes to influence the whole life and 
activities of his audience, he faces a most tremendous task. 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 265 

So great is it and so uncertain that there are in reality no 
rules that can be laid down to guide the speaker, other than 
those already given. Rules can be made for inducing a 
public decision, on such matters as joining an organization, 
giving or subscribing money, registering a vote; but when 
it comes to inducing people to divert the whole course of their 
lives and to consecrate themselves to something new, then 
rules do not help very greatly. It then becomes a matter of 
the experience, keen judgment, and magnetic qualities of the 
speaker. 

More often people are won to a great conversion by a 
powerful personality than by reasons, by a winning voice and 
manner than by cold facts, by the power of the personal touch 
that comes from hearing and seeing. There is of course im- 
mense importance in what such a speaker says; but the 
crowning touch is in his bodily activity, the verve and rich- 
ness of his voice, the grace and intelligence with which he 
combines these as a medium of carrying his thoughts. All the 
great evangelists are men of striking bodily appearance or 
alertness; great statesmen win in good part by superior looks 
and the power of the voice; great leaders of all kinds add to 
masterful thinking and planning the more subtle and power- 
ful elements of powerful speaking. 

Such rules for Outlining as apply to this kind of speaking 
must be of this general nature: 

(1) Leave no possible break in your logical consecutiveness. 

(2) Make all connections as nearly air-tight as they pos- 
sibly can be made. 

(3) Then be sure to start with your audience just where 
you find them in emotional tone, lead them along by safe and 
sure stages, and bring them finally to the level to which you 
wish to bring them. And in addition to all this, use all the 
powers possible in the way of making each sentence you utter 
as accurately worded as possible. 



266 BETTER SPEECH 

There is little hope of achieving this General Purpose 
except where the audience is expecially ripe for a given action. 
The evangelist comes before his audience only after weeks of 
preliminary " tuning" of them for his message. The states- 
man finds his audiences already deeply interested in his 
message. Any speaker who shapes destinies and decides the 
fate of his hearers must find them ready and eager. 

So in general this is a General Purpose that cannot be 
practised in high school classes. It is for those who have 
labored, and fought a good fight, and suffered, and learned 
the deepest lessons of life. 

Providing Emphasis for the Whole Speech 

Exercises in Arranging Topics for Tact 

1. Improve the order of the following outline statements by 
rearranging them to fit the Tendencies of the audience and the result 
you might wish to attain. 

To a group of religious enthusiasts. 

Proposition: "It is your duty, each one, to give your time next 
week to a house-to-house canvass for the coming revival." 
Your conscience will not rest if you neglect this opportunity. 
You will get a reward in due season. 
This is a duty you owe the Church. 
The unsaved must be sought out and brought in. 
Other Churches are active. 
You will find this work surprisingly pleasant. 

2. Assume that you are a city official appearing before a group of 
men and women gathered to consider the welfare of the boys and 
girls of the town, you wish to enlist their cooperation in keeping the 
boys and girls off the streets at night. Your Proposition is " The 
prime responsibility for the welfare of boys and girls lies with their 
parents." 

Which of the two following outlines would be more effective 
and why? 

(a) We cannot do too much for the safety of our boys and girls. 

Yet those of us who facet his problem know that it takes our very 
best efforts. 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 267 

In cities like this it is a problem for both the home and the city 
hall. 

Yet the city hall inevitably takes up the matter second, after 
the home has had its chance. 

This often means that the home has failed in its duty. 

The result is that the city deals almost entirely with those who 
have gone astray. 

When the home does its full duty, the city has little or no trouble 
with boys and girls. 

This all fits in with the theory that the earliest influences are the 
strongest. 

So from all angles I feel safe in saying that parents cannot escape 
the principal responsibility for the welfare of their boys and girls. 

(b) If boys and girls are running our streets, it means that par- 
ents have failed in their duty. 

The parents are primarily to blame for what happens on the street. 

If parents will do their duty, the city will have little to worry about. 

Anyway, first influences are deepest, and that means the in- 
fluences of the parents. 

We are ready to cooperate in any way if parents will do their duty. 

For too much cannot be done for our boys and girls. 

And we are all willing to do our best, parents and city. 

So whatever happens, parents must take the principal burden of 
keeping their children off the streets. 

3. From Propositions presented in other exercises in this book 
make out lists of Outline Statements, and then arrange them in 
the best order for different audiences. 

SUMMARY OF FORMULA FOR OUTLINING 

Observe these steps in making Outlines for speeches: 

(1) Make clear to yourself what you want to get the 
audience to do. 

(2) Know your audience; study their traits and tendencies 
— their wishes. 

(3) State your case in a Proposition, a complete declarative 
sentence; a clear statement of what you " propose" for the 
audience to accept — the basis of Unity. 



268 BETTER SPEECH 

(4) Select a series of complete statements that "make 
your point" 

(5) Put these together on the basis of close Coherence, the 
"follow-up" method. 

(6) Consider your General Purpose and use the method 
of Continuity for the Purpose in hand. 

(7) Arrange these in an order that fits the attitudes and 
likes of your audience — thus securing emphasis. 

(8) Revise as many times as is necessary to make sure 
your Outline states your case precisely as you would have it. 

Selecting Speech Material 

Step 7. Choose Only Facts, and Facts that Give a 
Minimum of Offense 

Speak the Truth as you see it. Every speaker must face 
the truth. The sincere speaker must feel that he is in the 
right or he cannot go ahead; he cannot speak with convic- 
tion, with power, or with assurance. Without these he has 
little certainty of success. What he says he must believe 
to be true, or people will discover his deception, and find 
him out as an ignoramus usurping the place of men who 
really do know. 

Yet finding the truth is no easy task. In fact, when we 
look at the world around us we have no difficulty in seeing 
that there are many things called " truth" that do not bear 
a very close test. For example, what has truth to do with 
the contentions and assertions of rival political candidates? 
One says his party is right and the other party wrong; the 
other man denies both his statements. Where is the truth? 
Even in religion one finds it advisable to go a bit slow in one's 
assertiveness; truth is a very large and very elusive thing. 

Yet truth exists, and we could not possibly get along with- 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 269 

out feeling that what we do is done because we believe we have 
found truth and are in the right. We have to believe in 
something, and believing, we have to feel confident that our 
truth is good for ourselves and consequently good for others. 
So we accept our share of the world's truth, and when we 
have the courage to command the ears of others, then we 
defend our own. 

There are two main things to mark: (1) You must make 
people see the truth as you see it with all the earnestness 
and devotion of your being; and (2) You may be right, and 
you may be wrong. Yet you are compelled to go ahead as if 
you were right, though always remembering that you may 
be wrong. To feel right is an invigorating, energizing, vital- 
izing experience; while to feel the possibility of being wrong 
ought to leave one steady, cool, tempered, modest. If you 
would succeed on the platform, you must develop a balance 
between these two necessities; you must be brave yet modest, 
positive but careful, strong and fair. 

SELECTING FACTS 

Keep to the Truth. There is no room on the public plat- 
form for anything except Truth. Despite the seeming evi- 
dence that liars and cheats and men who speak loosely and 
with slight concern for the truth seem to win now and then, 
still it remains that the only worth-while victories and the 
only secure results come from telling the truth as one sees it 
and keeping to the facts. 

Probably most departures from facts are made by speakers 
who are only careless or lazy; to look up the facts takes effort, 
and it takes effort to state ideas and thoughts so that they 
tell the truth only. In almost any newspaper you can find an 
editorial that tells things that are not really quite so; because 
the hurry of newspaper writing often prevents the writer 
from stating his point so as to make it precisely true. 



270 BETTER SPEECH 

For example, an editorial in a magazine recently began 
this way, "When President Harding called a world confer- 
ence on the limitation of armament, a wave of thanksgiving 
swept over the country. Thousands of women looked at 
their children and grandchildren through a mist of happy 
tears." While we can explain the "wave of thanksgiving" 
as a figure of speech, no such wave having happened at all, 
we cannot by any effort get around those thousands of 
women looking through the "mist of happy tears." It is 
just a plain falsehood, a perversion of the facts; which makes 
it either base or foolish, in this case foolish. As a conse- 
quence the rest of the editorial is left unimpressive and un- 
convincing because of this silly opening. 

This means that when you use Observations and Mem- 
ories, you have not only to observe and remember accurately, 
but you must state them so carefully that you and the 
hearers will recognize them as true. It means that when 
you are stating Opinions and Beliefs, you must exercise 
especial care to see that what you say is true. If you mean 
"I think this is the way the matter stands," or "This is the 
way it seems to me," that stands clearly as the truth, we 
must take your word for it; but we will be slow about taking 
your word for "I have the truth," "I know positively." 

Suppose a political speaker says, "The other party is 
not fit to rule;" who will believe him except rank partisans 
already convinced? But if he says, "In my opinion and in 
the opinion of my party the other party is not fit to rule," 
that must stand as the truth; it is evidently a plain fact and 
not to be denied. A preacher who says, "Every person 
who dances is bound for Hell," is not telling the truth; 
whereas he might just as well keep to the facts by saying, 
"I believe that every person who dances, etc." That we can 
accept as a fact. 

Public addresses are often almost foul with just such false- 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 271 

hoods, where telling the truth would have been very easy 
indeed and much more profitable. 

Study the following examples to see how easy it is to turn 
a certain type of misstatement into a clear Fact: 

1 . We must elect this candidate. (We will do well to — ) 

2. Washington was the noblest man that ever lived. (Washington 

was one of the noblest men — ) 

3. We cannot get along without this leader. (We should miss him 

more than we can say.) 

4. Without a high tariff this nation will go into bankruptcy. 

(Without a high tariff certain important interests will get 
less than they desire.) 

5. The workingman needs his light wines and beer. (Some work- 

ing-men will be more content if they have — ) . 

Choose Facts that Give no Unnecessary Offense to the Audience 

Yet it is not enough alone that you should keep to Facts; 
there are Facts — and Facts. Facts are sometimes trouble- 
some; they have been long reputed to be " stubborn things;" 
and not a little of the time they hurt and hurt hard. It 
takes a very generous and broad-minded person to listen to 
unpleasant facts and then to do what is asked of him. A 
grocer may be charging unholy profits; but a salesman will 
sell him little if he tells him so. A congregation may be sel- 
fish and narrow-minded, but the preacher will make slow prog- 
ress winning souls and collecting money if he says it right out 
in meeting. An audience listening to a political speaker may 
be a mere flock of sheep running after a leader heedlessly, 
but no votes are won by letting them in on the secret. 

Select the Helpful Facts. There are so many Facts to be 
found in any situation that you cannot possibly tell them 
all; so the wise thing to do is to tell those that do you and 
your audience the most good. Here is farmer Jones. He goes 
to church regularly, pays his debts, makes his wife work too 
hard, prevents his children from going to college, prays daily, 



272 BETTER SPEECH 

drives a very sharp bargain, gives to the church, thinks any- 
kind of house is good enough for his family to live in, and 
believes that if certain amusements delight his children 
they must be ruinous to their souls. A host of other Facts 
can be found true of him, like these, mixed in quality. Now 
if you are going to convert him or get his vote, some of these 
Facts you should very carefully pass by in your conversa- 
tion with him. You can select the good things about him 
and still be within the Facts. He is religious, he is hon- 
est, he believes in being philanthropic, he is a pillar of 
the church, he is one of the solid men of the community, he 
has the welfare of his town, state, nation, and of all man- 
kind at heart. These facts, if mentioned, will find him and 
you in beautiful agreement; especially him! 

Use Facts that are Accepted. Any situation or person can 
be dissected in the same way, part pleasant and part un- 
pleasant to the person you are dealing with. The simple 
rule of Persuasion and Conviction is that if you are going 
to win your man, you must confine yourself to the Facts 
that he too accepts as such. Otherwise he will deny what 
you regard as plain Fact or be offended at your mentioning 
Facts which he acknowledges but finds distasteful. You 
may have noticed how large a part of each day you spend 
overlooking and ignoring unpleasant truths, and rolling 
under your tongue the pleasant. That is the way you treat 
yourself, and that is the way others have to treat you to get 
your good will, your votes, and your money. 

Use Unpleasant Facts Only in Special Cases. Yet this does 
not say that one should never use the unpleasant. The time 
comes when "a little plain speaking" is the only path to 
success. Parents have to talk plainly to children, sometimes 
in hard words of one syllable; men in deliberative bodies, 
such as legislatures and conventions, occasionally have to 
call a spade a spade; even a book agent has to call the at- 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 273 

tention of the "lady of the house" to the sad lack of books 
on the parlor table. Always you must follow your own 
judgment and be sure you know when it is the right time to 
" speak out in meeting." 

EXERCISE 

Step 7. Choosing Agreeable Facts 

1. Mark the statements that would offend an audience of business 
men; those just barely acceptable, and those wholly acceptable? 

(a) We need more prosperity. 

(b) Our city is behind the times. 

(c) Living conditions here are very bad. 

(d) Our people are as alert as anybody. 

(e) The cost of living here is too great. 

(f) The business men must shoulder the burden of securing a 

return of prosperity. 

(g) Anything it costs you to keep up the town is well spent. 

(h) The working man must play his part in bringing good times 
by accepting lower wages. 

2. Mark these again to fit working men; teachers; ministers; 
students. 

Developing the Outline Topics 

Step 8. Develop Each Outline Topic to Meet the Atti- 
tude of the Audience Toward it 

Now we come to the actual ' ' making ' ' of the speech. When 
you have once decided on your Paragraph Outline, you have 
a series of Topic Statements that carry the burden and cur- 
rent of your Purpose and Thought. Now comes the task 
of developing these Topics into actual speaking, actual dis- 
course. Up to this point you have been planning; now you 
are ready to break out into speech. 

What are the problems? Remember that you are trying 
to win your audience; so do not lose sight of them and of 
their natures. We are ready to use Facts to get them to do 
what we want; that is what public speaking always aims 
to do. But we must find a way of choosing and presenting 



274 BETTER SPEECH 

Facts. Nothing but Facts will win fairly and successfully; 
but not all Facts will bring success in the same degree or 
the same way. Then how do we choose? 

The answer is found in the audience themselves. Can the 
speaker be sure the audience believe that his facts are 
facts for them? Decidedly not; one man's facts are another 
man's heresies and even falsehoods. So if the speaker would 
win, he must find out which of his facts are facts also to his 
audience. Then he must find out how to make them ac- 
cept his facts as theirs. 

What can an audience do to your Facts? Just three 
things; there are no others: 

1. Accept 

2. Be undecided 

3. Reject 

These three attitudes toward your Outline Statements 
decide what you must do to develop them. If a Topic is 
accepted by your audience, you must treat it one way; if 
they hesitate over it, you are compelled to treat it another 
way; and if they reject it, you must find another way still. 

Suppose we have an Outline like this: (for a speech to 
your class trying to decide what to do for an outing; you 
favor going on a picnic.) 

Proposition : A picnic offers the best prospect for our outing. 

1. The weather this fall has been exceptionally fine. 

2. At this season Beecham's Woods are in their richest colors. 

3. To get there we can easily find cars enough. 

4. In the past our class picnics have always been exceptionally 

successful. 

5. For such an affair the committee has planned all sorts of in- 

teresting " stunts." 

6. No other way offers so good a prospect. 

If you will look this over with some care, you can dis- 
cover that your classmates might easily do any one of three 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 275 

things with each of these Topic Statements. Note what the 
three things are: 

A. They can accept any statement as you have it in the Outline. 

B. They can be uncertain whether or not it is true. 

C. They can reject it as untrue. 

These three ways of feeling toward your Outline Sentences 
can be given these three common names: 

A. Acceptance, or Belief. 

B. Hesitancy, or Doubt. 

C. Rejection, or Disbelief. 

Look at that Outline again; are there any Statements 
that your audience would accept as it is? Probably 1 and 2. 
Any which might create a doubt? 3, 4 and 5 might easily do 
so, leaving many members of the class hesitating to accept 
them outright; they would "have to be shown." The last, 6, 
would almost certainly find opposers; assuredly if the class 
is divided in opinion as to the best thing to do. For purposes 
of illustration, suppose we say that about everybody present 
accepts the first two statements, that they hesitate over the 
next three, and that a goodly company think the last state- 
ment is not true at all. With this assumption we can work 
out a way of meeting these three different situations. 

How to Develop Outline Statements 

A. The Method of IMPRESSIVENESS; When the Audience 

Agrees 

Is it useless to put into an Outline something the audi- 
ence already agrees to? Not by a good deal. Some speakers, 
mostly inexperienced, seem to think that public speaking 
is only for the purpose of telling people what they do not 
know. This is a very ill-formed observation. If you will 
but notice speeches you like, you may be surprised to find 
how large a proportion of them is given up to things you 



276 BETTER SPEECH 

already know. As a matter of plain fact, most people are 
delighted and interested best by hearing old stories, old de- 
scriptions, old pictures, old arguments, old beliefs. New- 
things often make them angry or bore them or go over their 
heads. 

Use the Familiar When the Audience Accepts Your Topic. 
The answer as to what to do when your audience is with you, 
is found in the use of familiar things ; familiar memories, 
familiar observations, familiar pictures, familiar beliefs, 
familar lines of reasoning, familiar imaginings, familiar quo- 
tations. Many a time your Outline needs Statements that 
are already accepted; also your audience and you both need 
that harmony that comes from agreement. So if you know 
the art of talking about familiar things and making them 
interesting, you can make any old Topic live anew and glow 
with impressiveness. 

The way to make familiar things interesting is well-known; 
make them concrete; use vivid pictures; bring up memories 
that are keenly felt; restate old beliefs that are deeply cher- 
ished. The reason stories are so effective is that when told 
well they deal with the concrete, the vivid, the well-remem- 
bered, the keenly-felt, and the long-cherished. 

Take the Outline Statement number 1. "The weather 
this fall has been exceptionally fine." If you know how to 
paint "word pictures," you can make your hearers fairly 
fidget to get out into the woods. If your topic sentence is 
even so commonplace a statement as "Lincoln was a great 
man," a recital of concrete details of his life could make 
every ambitious boy or girl wish to follow his example of 
greatness. If you should use so old a truth as "Work con- 
quers all difficulties," you can, by proper recital of specific, 
well-known instances and incidents drawn from life and 
history, hold an audience deeply interested in this old, old 
theme. 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 277 

No matter how old your fact, it can always be backed up 
in a new way and made to live again in all its original vigor. 

The speaker who can do this well, rarely suffers from 
having his hearers go to sleep while he is speaking. Most 
sleeping in audiences comes when the speaker is giving too 
much new matter. 

B. The Method of INSTRUCTION; When the Audience is 

in Doubt 

What do we do when we are in doubt? We seek informa- 
tion. From our Outline about the picnic, take Statement 
number 4, "In the past our class picnics have been excep- 
tionally successful." Suppose there are those who say to 
this idea, "Well, I don't know about that," or "Have they?" 
or "How do you make that out?" What ought you to do? 
Plainly, tell them the facts that back up that statement. 

(1) Show what you mean by "successful;" 

(2) Cite specific facts that made the others successful; 

(3) Show wherein this picnic is to be like those others that 

went off so well; 

(4) Enumerate the cases of successful picnics; 

(5) Show the causes why previous picnics were successful; 

(6) Show how the conditions are correct for repeating the 

success; 

(7) Cite the testimony of believable people who agree. 
Now if you will note these various methods, you will see 

that they are all aspects of good Reasoning; Definition, 
Generalization, Analogy, Explaining Causes, Predicting Re- 
sults, and the use of Authority. 

So, then, the prime thing to do when j^ou want to settle a 
doubt, is to Reason well. Nothing else is so convincing or 
satisfying. 

To show further how this applies. Suppose you are speak- 
ing on the Outline Topic, "European finances are in a hope- 



278 BETTER SPEECH 

less condition," and your audience do not know the facts 
about this Topic; they are in a state of doubt, hesitancy, 
even ignorance, and so must be enlightened. The one way 
to get their attention and interest is to use the method of 
Reasoning carefully; that is, careful Definition, sound 
Generalization, truthful Analogies, believable Explanations 
of Causes, and Prediction of Results. Then by taking care 
with conjunctions to see that they are correct, by keeping a 
careful interlocking from one sentence to the next, you can 
get and hold interest. 

To illustrate this: suppose you are trying to show that 
" European finances are in a crucial condition. " Among 
the things to do to insure getting acceptance to this Topic are: 

(a) Make clear what you mean and what you do not mean by 

European "finances," and "crucial condition;" tell what 
their finances are now and what their finances were before 
the war. (Definition.) 

(b) Tell definite Facts about European finances at the present 

time. (Using specific Instances to support a Generaliza- 
tion.) 

(c) Show wherein conditions in Europe now are like conditions at 

other periods in history when finances were in a "crucial 
condition." (Analogy.) 

(d) Show what caused the present impossible situation. (Ex- 

planation of Causes) . 

(e) Show that the situation out of which the present conditions 

came, — the war, the treaty, etc. — are just the kind most 
likely to produce another "crucial condition." (Predic- 
tion of Results.) 

(f ) Cite Authority that supports your Topic. 

Having done these things, you will see that your audience 
are now in better condition to throw away their doubts and 
to believe. 

So the Topic that is doubted or hesitated over can best 
be made acceptable by using some or all of the aspects of sound 
and close Reasoning. 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 279 

C. The Method of CONCILIATION; When the Audience is 
Opposed to an Outline Topic 

What is to be done when your audience is hostile, op- 
posed, thinking you wrong, misguided, even false, or de- 
ceitful? Only one thing can be done; you have to "win 
them over." Often enough they will be denying your most 
cherished truths, facts of which you are perfectly sure. 
That is the odd thing about beliefs and ideas; what is one 
man's mental meat can be another man's mental poison. 
Clearly, then, it is not enough to go on bombarding your 
audience with facts that they will not take as facts at all; 
you must first find a way of getting them to accept your 
statements as facts. 

Go From the Accepted to the Unaccepted. The only way to 
do this is by means of facts that they will accept. It would 
be a strange situation indeed in which the speaker and the 
audience had no facts that they accepted in common. The 
problem is to find such and then to use them. Then what 
kinds of facts make the best common ground? 

Sources of Common Ground 

1. Obvious Truths Concerning theAudience and Yourself. 
No matter how hostile an audience is, if they find you talk- 
ing about things that they cannot help believing, they can 
be got to give you a fair hearing. One of the commonest 
ways is to talk about the audience itself and the looks of the 
hall or church or lecture room or tent; to comment on the 
temperature, the people present, the spirit of the occasion, 
even the good old faithful weather. Mr. Bryan, with all 
the enmities that have confronted him in his speech making, 
always has had a way of finding something about the people 
present, the occasion, the presiding officer, to which the 
audience give willing acceptance. Mr. Roosevelt had an 



280 BETTER SPEECH 

unusually happy faculty in this particular. Edmund Burke 
facing a hostile House of Commons to plead for America, 
began with remarks that no fair man could take exception to. 
Daniel Webster rising to refute the tremendous effect pro- 
duced by Senator Hayne, used statements that any honest 
man would call true. In this way they get a hearing and 
have a chance to lead from one accepted statement to others. 

Specific Material for Talking about the Audience and the 
Occasion; 

(a) The cause of the meeting; tell why the meeting was called. 

(b) The room, the place, the hour; talk about the circumstances 
attendant upon the gathering; the spirit of a church, the significance 
of a town hall, court room, school auditorium; tell of the interest- 
ing events of the day that have a relation to the meeting, such as a 
coming election, a movement for civic progress, the departure or 
arrival of interesting people. 

(c) Recent events; national, state, local; what the newspapers 
are filled with. 

(d) The weather; unusual heat or cold or moisture; a storm or 
an unusually beautiful day; the climate in general — always a topic 
of interest and common agreement. 

(e) The audience; their size, looks, actions, their standing in the 
community, their known good works and spirits, their virtues and 
powers, their fairness, honesty, energy, patriotism, loyalty, sin- 
cerity, philanthropic works, love of justice. 

(f) Joking disparagement of the speaker's own powers, making 
dignified fun of himself, light banter about his appearance, manners, 
position in the world, capacity, and intentions, by-play with the 
audience. 

The speaker who knows how to do these things success- 
fully — which means gracefully and with tact — can mollify 
pretty sharp opposition. At least he can get a start toward a 
hearing. 

2. Known Historical Events. Certain facts of history are 
so well known that audience and speaker cannot but be in 
agreement as to the facts. They are also interesting. When 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 281 

a speaker can weave in historical facts and make them a 
real part of his speech, he has a means of gaining assent 
from his audience. A speaker who starts out, no matter how 
set against him his audience, with "It is told of George 
Washington at the battle of Yorktown — " will in all proba- 
bility get a hearing; he can at least get fairly started. 

3. Stories and Descriptions. Everybody has noticed how 
often public speakers start off with a story; or how in the 
middle of the speech a story is used as a means of broaching 
a "touchy" Topic. The reason is self-evident; it is accepted 
at once as true and paves the way for what the speaker says 
next. It is the surest kind of "common ground," about 
which we hear so much. The good story teller rarely fails 
to get a hearing; while many men of learning and fine in- 
telligence put audiences to sleep for the very reason that 
they cannot or will not tell stories well or paint word pictures 
vividly. Too much of their speech making is new and un- 
known, therefore unaccepted. If they used more of what 
is thoroughly accepted by the audience, they would keep 
better attention throughout. It pays to be a good story 
teller. 

4. Accepted Authorities. Suppose you are to tell an 
audience of farmers, "There is no reason to hope for better 
prices on grain." That is the last thing they want to hear 
from you or from anybody. But your outline compels you 
to make this point and to try to prove it. The best you can 
do is to make them accept it with what grace they can; it 
will be a bitter pill at best. Yet people do take bitter pills. 
What is the best way of getting them to accept it? One way 
surpasses all others; quote for them things said by men they 
believe in. Tell them the statements of the Secretary of 
Agriculture, of the leader of their farm organization, of 
the county adviser, of their farm paper. Nothing gets quite 
so much acceptance in so short a time. 



282 BETTER SPEECH 

Of course, this means that you use such statements only 
when they exist. Cases arise where such statements are not 
to be had; they are not true. When, though you can find 
such statements for your use, you solve much of the problem 
of making opposers listen fairly. 

5. Making Yourself an Authority by Gaining the Good Will 
of the Audience. One way of getting a favorable hearing 
when you have something unacceptable to say, is to make 
the audience like you personally. This may sound odd as a 
principle, but it is most undeniably true. As a matter of 
plain fact, most of the statements that speakers make on 
the public platform have no other warrant for their truthful- 
ness than that the speaker is a man to be trusted, and what 
he says goes for the truth. In other words, he makes things 
acceptable as facts for the audience just because he says so. 
By gaining good will he gains assent to what he says. 

The ways of gaining this Good Will are numerous. A 
list that contains many common ways is: sincerity, honesty, 
fair play, earnestness, dignity, learning, poise, friendliness, 
amiableness, gracefulness, good appearance, proper manners, 
ability to impersonate, a rich voice, excellent choice of words, 
a fine enunciation, a lively manner. 

Reveal these characteristic, any or all, in what you do 
and in what you say, and you have a very good chance of 
having your word accepted just because you said it. Naturally 
this gives the platform crook his chance; yet it is more profit- 
able still for the man of honesty and real sincerity. When 
an honest man making a public speech is himself convinced 
that what he is saying is true, he can get others to see things 
his way any time he can do the things that bring out the 
Good Will of the Audience. 

The Case Illustrated. Suppose then that we are dealing 
with Topic 6, of the Outline about the picnic: it reads, 
"No other way affords so good a prospect." Some of the 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 283 

class do not believe this, for they have set their hearts on 
another kind of outing. How to win them? Note some of the 
ways that would do so: 

Tell an apt story that shows how superior the picnic 
type of outing is likely to be. 

Paint a picture of what a glorious time is to be had. 

If some trusted friend of your opponents has said favorable 
words about your affairs, quote them. 

Get your opponents in such good humor by your fairness, 
wit, honesty, and similar virtues, that they will take your 
word for it. 

Any or all of these if done with the proper skill and delicacy 
will succeed in overcoming opposition. Nothing else will 
do it so well. 

Then while you are using authority and good will, if at the 
same time you will be sure not to use weak reasoning and will 
speak of only those matters that come under the Observation 
and Experiences of your audiences, you have a chance to get 
assent to the disliked and disapproved topic. 

Summary of Method for Developing Outline Topics 

(1) Have an Outline of Topic Statements that mark out 
your path clearly and effectively, with logical connections 
and Topics arranged according to the human nature of the 
audience. 

(2) Study each Topic to learn how your audience is likely 
to receive it: whether they Accept it, Hesitate over it, or 
Reject it. 

(3) Back up each Topic by using the Method of Development 
most likely to interest your audience; for believers the method 
of Impressiveness; for the doubters or the uninformed, the 
Method of Instruction; and for disbelievers, the Method of 
Conciliation. 

When you have laid your plans for a speech on these 



284 BETTER SPEECH 

foundations, you have made provision for the following 
necessities: 

(a) Unity in the whole speech. 

(b) Coherence in the whole speech. 

(c) Emphasis in the whole speech. 

(d) Unity in paragraphs and sentences. 

(e) Accounting for the way the audience feels toward your topics. 

(f) Accounting for the method of choosing facts to fit your 
audience's feelings. 

(g) The "intellectual appeal," "argument," (the Instructive 
method). 

(h) The "emotional appeal" (the Impressive method), 
(i) ' ' Persuasiveness ' ' (the conciliatory method) . 

EXERCISES 

Step 8. Supporting the Outline Topic Statements 

Make speeches of one paragraph in length from the following 
topics, using the method named: 

A. Method of IMPRESSIVENESS. (Have in mind an audi- 
ence that already believes the topic; use to advantage facts that 
are familiar and liked.) 

1. Life is a funny thing. 

2. The world is too much with us. 

3. Girls (or boys) are a nuisance. 

4. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. 

5. To err is human ; to forgive divine. 

6. Dickens' characters are most interesting. 

7. Kindness pays. 

8. Some books are to be digested. 

9. School days are the happiest of all. 

10. A small brother is a pest. 

11. Lincoln is the ideal American. 

12. East is East, and West is West. 

13. All the world loves a lover. 

14. Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast. 

15. Swimming is a rare sport. 

16. Love is the greatest thing in the world. 
N 17. The woods are lovely this season. 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 285 

18. The constant dropping of the water wears away the 

hardest stone. 

19. Rain is a blessing. 

20. A rainy day is a day for catching up on old books. 

21. Trees are wonderful. 

22. Poetry is the solace of great minds. 

23. "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.' ' 

24. " Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war." 

25. Labor omnia vincit. 

B. Method of INSTRUCTION. (Have in mind some specific 
audience that needs information and will be pleased to receive it.) 

1. China has a peculiar school system. 

2. Leprosy can now be cured. 

3. The price of corn is less than (or more than) it ought to be. 

4. We have stopped growing in this community. 

5. Most of the clothing for the United States is made in the 

State of New York. 

6. Lincoln and Washington teach the same lesson of patriot- 

ism. 

7. The "movies" do more good than harm (or more harm 

than good). 

8. A new library (or city hall, or town hall, or railway 

station) is a necessity. 

9. The automobile business has grown at an astonishing rate. 

10. Lincoln's law practice is an interesting story. 

11. Preventive medicine is growing in favor among phy- 

sicians. 

12. The study of law is almost exciting. 

13. Last year marked several improvements in our school 

(or city, or county, or grange, or club) . 

14. The fruit season will be a success (or failure) . 

15. " Government " is a misunderstood term . 

16. The Argonne campaign was well planned. 

17. Sunlight is a wonderful curative agent. 

18. Chemistry has a number of most interesting industrial 

uses. 

19. Armaments will lead to war. 

20. The tariff should be removed altogether from politics. 

21. Capital punishment does not stop murder. 

22. The Japanese barberry is the cause of wheat rust. 



286 BETTER SPEECH 

23. Harsh treatment of immigrants will endanger American 

institutions. 

24. The United States leads in oil production. 

25. The late war was caused by ignorance among the ruling 

classes. 

C. Method of CONCILIATION. (Have in mind an audience 
that is opposed to the statement; induce good will, quote authority, 
use personal relation.) 

1. Foot ball is good for those who play it. (To hostile 

parents.) 

2. This town needs waking up. (To the city council) 

3. The " movies" do more good than harm. (To people 

who have been known to oppose them) 

4. Politics in this community are in a bad way. (To a 

group of political leaders) 

5. A new school building will benefit every one of you 

personally . (To " close " tax payers) 

6. Your wages are too high. (To workingmen) 

7. The bankers are profiteering at the present interest 

rates. (To bankers) 

8. Retailers should reduce prices promptly when wholesale 

prices drop. (To retailers) 

9. Vacations need not be so long as they now are. (To a 

school assembly) 

10. Hard work is a blessing. (To boys and girls) 

11. Cold weather is good for you. (To lazy people) 

12. You need to eat less. (To gourmands) 

13. More exercise would do you good. (To lazy women) 

14. The Asiatics have as many rights as we have. (To Cali- 
fornians) 

15. You ought to take a cold bath every morning. (To 

people of soft habits) 

16. Peace at any price is a dangerous doctrine. (To pacifists) 

17. The man who aims at wealth alone loses the best joys of 

life. (To money grubbers) 

18. America is a nation of dollar chasers. (To confirmed 

optimists) 

19. You are the master of your fate. (To the " down and out ") 

20. You cannot afford to do that (Specify some particular act 

or policy or practice). 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 287 

21. You are wrecking your life. (To a " speedy " boy) 

22. Socialists are not necessarily dangerous. (To a "100% 

patriot") 

23. It is more blessed to give than to receive. (To a miser) 

24. The present administration is a success (or failure) . 

25. The country as a whole is better off with low priced farm 

products. (To farmers) 

EXERCISES FOR ADAPTING THE WHOLE HIGH SCHOOL 
CURRICULUM TO ASSIGNMENTS* IN PUBLIC SPEAKING 

"SOCIALIZED" ASSIGNMENTS 

Suggestions for short talks or extended speeches, according to the 
assignment and the type of class, on subjects dealt with in other 
classes than the Speech class; specific subjects to be assigned by the 
teacher or the class: 

1. Literature: 

(a) Relate the life of any interesting writer about whom 

you are studying; poet, essayist, dramatist, novelist, 
orator. 

(b) Give a summary of a story or play. 

(c) Give a description of the people, customs, and surrounding 

country among which a given writer was reared. 

(d) Tell of the literary influences that shaped the career of any 

assigned writer. 

(e) Explain what any assigned literary production means to 

the speaker dealing with the topic. 

(f ) Give a character sketch of a person from a play. 

(g) Discuss the literary style of . 

2. History: 

(a) My estimate of Alexander, Pericles, Caesar, Louis XIV, 
Charles L, Napoleon, Wellington, Frederick the Great, John 

* In keeping with the growing movement for the socialization of 
school studies, the teacher of Speech has an excellent opportunity to 
furnish the best socializing activity in the school. Classes in Public 
Speaking can find literally hundreds of live topics in their other 
studies. The inventive class and teacher can discover all they can ever 
use. The above exercises, in the face of the great number of available 
subjects, must be accepted only as suggestive of the almost boundless 
possibilities of school socialization. 



288 BETTER SPEECH 

Hampden, James Otis, Thomas Jefferson — ; literally hundreds of 
historical characters can be chosen. 

(b) The sources of strength, or weakness, of any selected nation, 
ancient or modern. 

(c) Did (a leader or general) act wisely at — — (such and such 

a crisis)? 

(d) Explain the relations — social, commercial, and military — ■ 
between any two adjoining countries at a specified period of history. 

(e) Explain the spirit or genius of any selected people or race. 

(f) Tell of the growth of certain trades and industries in various 
nations and at the time of which you are studying. 

3. Languages: 

(a) Tell of the special difficulties encountered in the study of 
Latin; French; Greek; German; Spanish; whichever you are study- 
ing. 

(b) Paraphrase stories you have read in your language work. 

(c) Explain and illustrate the sounds of French; Spanish; German; 
Latin, Greek. 

(d) Relate humorous incidents that have happened in class when 
some one was translating a foreign language. 

(e) Tell of the literary masterpieces of a foreign language you are 
studying. 

(f ) Give the story of the life of a selected writer who wrote in the 
language you are studying. 

4. Sciences: 

(a) Explain the field covered by: 

Chemistry 

Physics 

Zoology 

Botany 

Physiography 

(b) Show the class the technique of one of the sciences you are 
studying. 

(c) Explain how this or that scientific problem was worked out; 
give the various stages of its progress; apparatus, experiments, 
methods. 

(d) Explain the meaning of various common terms used in one of 
the sciences you are studying. 

(e) Tell of the funny things that have happened in the laboratory. 



PUBLIC SPEAKING 289 

5. Mathematics: 

Use the Speech class for learning how to speak while demonstrating 
problems in Algebra and Geometry. Be clear as a thinker, ac- 
curate in language, expressive of voice, and alert of body. 

Repeat until you can do the oral mathematics recitation accu- 
rately, interestingly, and even pleasingly. Follow the principles laid 
down in Chapters III and IV. 

6. Agriculture, Domestic Science, Manual Training, Bookkeeping, 



These subjects ought to make some of the best topics of all for 
talks and speeches; they deal with matters of every-day interest 
and inevitably provoke much discussion. The following types of 
speeches can be worked out from these studies: 

(a) Explanations of processes. 

(b) Reasons for your way of doing things. 

(c) Various ways of getting results. 

(d) How they do these things in other places. 

(e) Arguments as to the defects in such and such a system. 

(f) Appeals to imaginary audiences, who agree with you or 

need to be shown the truth, or disagree with you; im- 
press those who already know, instruct those who are in 
doubt, and conciliate those who are opposed to you. 

(g) Get up debates on problems growing from your class work. 

7. Use any of this material for speeches to be given at the "audi- 
torium hour." 



CHAPTER IX 
READING 

If I could have a son or daughter possessed of but one accomplish- 
ment in life, it should be that of good reading. 

John Ruskin. 

Literature is not in the book. She has to do with the living speech 
of men. Her language is that of the lips. Her life is in the song, the 
ballad, the story, and the oration, the epic and drama, as they sound 
and are heard of men. 

Pbrcival Chubb; English Journal. 

OUTLINE 
I. Kinds of Reading. 

A. Reading to get Meanings for One's Self. 

1. Limitations of written language. 

2. Inner speech in "silent reading." 

3. Reading as the translation of experiences. 

4. Reading as an active process. 

B. Reading to Give Meanings to Others. 

1. Why we read to others. 

2. Reading to others is a form of speaking. 

II. Kinds of Meaning in Reading. 

A. Logical Content. 

B. Emotional Content. 

III. Levels of Meaning in Reading. 

A. Word Meanings. 

B. Ideas and Feelings. 

C. Thoughts and Emotions. 

D. Attitudes and Purposes. 

IV. Reading to Others. 

A. Getting Meanings from Written Language. 

1. A reading vocabulary. 

2. Knowledge of syntax and punctuation. 

290 



READING 291 

3. Knowledge of rhetoric. 

4. Getting the perspective. 

(a) Acquaintance with author. 

(b) Knowledge of circumstances of writing. 

(c) Appreciation of setting. 

5. Paraphrasing. 

6. Tone-copying. 

7. Pantomime-copying. 

B. Translating Written Language into Good Speech. 

I. KINDS OF READING 

There are two principal kinds of reading; reading for the 
purpose of getting meanings for one's self, and reading for the 
purpose of stirring up meanings in the mind of someone else. 
These two kinds of reading, while they are different, are very 
closely related. They are commonly called "silent reading" 
and "oral reading". But the only genuine distinction is the 
one indicated in the first sentence above, that in one case the 
reader reads to or for himself and in the other case to or for 
someone else. 

A. Reading to get Meanings for One's Self 

Reading just to get the meaning from printed or written 
pages is by no means all silent. There are certain types of 
material from which it is very difficult to get meanings with- 
out reading them actively and aloud to one's self. For example 
it is very doubtful whether one can get the true and complete 
meaning from a poem by merely looking at it. 

1. Limitations of written language. 

The language of poetry is addressed to the ear and not 
to the eye. The meaning of the author comes to the reader 
only when he hears the sounds that make the poem. Hiram 
Corson, in his book, "The Voice and Spiritual Education," 
has much excellent comment on this point. He says, "To 
him (Shakespeare) language was for the ear, not for the eye. 



292 BETTER SPEECH 

The written word was to him what it was to Socrates, 'the 
mere image or phantom of the living animated word.' " * 
Again, " Reading must supply all the deficiencies of written 
or printed language. It must give life to the letter. How 
comparatively little is addressed to the eye in print or manu- 
script, of what has to be addressed to the ear by a reader. 
There are no indications of tone, quality of voice, inflection, 
pitch, time, or any other of the vocal functions demanded for 
a full intellectual and spiritual interpretation. A poem is not 
truly a poem until it is voiced by an accomplished reader who 
has adequately assimilated it — in whom, it has, to some 
extent, been born again, according to his individual spiritual 
constitution and experiences. The potentialities, so to 
speak, of the printed poem, must be vocally realized." f 
"In silent reading, an appreciation of matter and form 
must be largely due to an imaginative transference to the 
ear of what is taken in by the eye." J 

It may be that one who has been trained by much reading 
to others can look through the language of a poem and by 
imagining how it would sound and feel if read aloud, can come 
somewhere near getting the meaning. This procedure, how- 
ever, is quite out of the question for an untrained reader. 

2. Inner speech in "silent reading" 

What has been said in the foregoing section on the limita- 
tions of written language together with the discussion of 
written language as a substitute for spoken language, in the 
chapter on Using Language in Speech, leads to the further 
statement that " silent reading" is a derived and secondary- 
form of reading. The way in which we all learn to read is by 
translating the black marks on white paper, the signs of 
writing, into vocal sounds for which they stand, the signs of 
speech. When we have had a good deal of experience in this 
* Page 114. f Page 29. t Page 114. 



READING 293 

process of translation, we come to carry it on with less and 
less outward speech activity, until finally we can sit quietly, 
merely run our eyes over the page, and get meanings. 

It is to be noted, however, that in so-called "silent read- 
ing" not all speech activity has been eliminated, but merely 
the kind that shows on the outside. Even though you hold 
your face straight when you read, just the same you are 
making all sorts of muscular movements behind the mask. 
As a small child the only way you could read at all was 
aloud and with your whole throat and face. Later you 
learned how to keep the face from moving, but not the 
throat and tongue. So when you now read you always use 
some of this tongue and throat activity. You have known 
people who moved their lips constantly when they read to 
themselves. They are generally those who have had little 
training in reading and are still doing their reading more or 
less in its original form. No matter what their age may be 
they are mere children in reading ability, and they read 
the way all children do in the beginning of the process, 
visibly and audibly making the signs of speech for which 
the signs of writing stand. 

3. Reading as the translation of experiences 

What goes on when you read to yourself? As you read 
this text right now, what is the process reduced to its lowest 
terms? The authors, when they wrote the words and sen- 
tences that you are now reading, were moved by a desire to 
stir up certain ideas, certain thoughts and feelings in you. 
The only thing they could do was to find language signals in 
written form which might cause you to think and feel as 
nearly as possible as they wanted you to. It would have 
been much easier to stir up these meanings by speaking 
directly to you, for, as we have already seen, the code of 
speech is much richer and more suggestive than the code 



294 BETTER SPEECH 

of writing. But since it was impossible to talk with you, the 
authors had to use written language. 

As Kerfoot says, "Whatever happens when we read 
happens inside ourselves;" and, "If there is one fact that 
we have grown thoroughly to understand and accept, it is 
the fact that we have nothing to read with except our own 
experiences; the seeing and hearing, the smelling and tasting 
and touching that we have done; the fearing and hating 
and hoping and loving that has appeared in us; the intel- 
lectual and spiritual reactions that have resulted, and the 
assumptions, understandings, prejudices, hypocrisies, fervors, 
foolishnesses, finenesses, and faiths that have thereby been 
precipitated in us like crystals in a chemist's tube." * 

4. Reading as an active process 

Now let us suppose that you are genuinely anxious to 
"get" the meanings from this page, and that you are ready 
to make the effort necessary. "We receive in reading, but 
not directly by what the author tells us, but indirectly by 
the new uses that he stimulates us into putting our experience 
to, for reading consists of our making, — with the aid of the 
pattern and the hints supplied by the author, — but out of 
our mental stock which we have produced by living, — some- 
thing that never existed before." f You can never get 
the meanings unless you are willing to exert yourself actively, 
for reading is always an active process. The only thing 
you have before you on this page is a group of signs intended 
to suggest meanings, which if they come at all, must come 
out of your own experience. In other words you have in the 
printed page, a call to engage in the activities of thinking 
and feeling. It is within your power to answer the call or to 
disregard it, but we are supposing that you are willing to do 
your part. 

* J. B. Kerfoot, "How to Read." f I^d. p. 21. 



READING 295 

That being the case, go back to the beginning of this 
paragraph and read it out loud to yourself. Do you get 
anything this time that you missed before? If you do, how 
do you account for the gain? 

Nothing said here is intended to belittle the importance 
of reading silently. All that we have been doing is to call 
attention to the fact that reading rests upon some sort of sub- 
stitution of the speech symbols for the written symbols either 
openly and fully, as in learning to read, or covertly and par- 
tially in memory echoes of former experiences. 

B. Reading to Give Meanings to Others 

1. Why do we read to others? Why should anyone read to 
another? Why not let each individual do his own reading? 
The answer is that a good reader can save those to whom 
he reads an immense amount of labor and give them a 
great deal of pleasure by substituting the symbols of speech 
for the symbols of writing as a means of causing them to 
respond as the author wants them to respond. Always it 
is to be remembered that whether we have written symbols 
or spoken symbols, we have only suggestions, clues or signals. 
The process of listening to and watching a good reader has 
much the same advantage over looking at a printed page, 
that a neatly typed manuscript has over an almost illegible 
hand-written one. This has long been recognized. Pliny 
the Younger says, "We are much more affected by words 
which we hear, for though what we read in books may be 
more pointed, yet there is something in the voice, the look, 
the carriage, and the gesture of the speaker that makes a 
deeper impression on the mind." The speech symbols are 
so much clearer, fuller, richer and more explicit than the 
written symbols that the meanings are much more easily 
called up. 

The ideal of a good reader should be to do what the writer 



296 BETTER SPEECH 

would do if he were a competent speaker and coidd meet face to 
face in conversation those who are to read what he writes. Car- 
lyle said, "We are all poets if we read a poem well." Thus 
one who reads to others is an interpreter, a representative 
of the author, who says, "I know what the author meant; 
I have interpreted what I find on the page, and now I shall 
try to make his meanings clear and complete in your think- 
ing by the use of speech." Of course, if the reader is to 
take this attitude, he must first know just how to turn the 
black marks of the printed page into the sounds of speech. 
When we read to others, we assume that we can awaken a 
fuller and quicker response to the author's meanings than 
they would give if they themselves read the written symbols. 

2. Reading to others is a form of speaking 

How does the problem of the reader differ from that of 
the speaker? While the speaker is creating his own meanings 
first hand, — offering us his own memories, observations, 
imaginings, reasoning, and feeling, — the reader is recreating 
the meanings of the writer second hand, re-coding them, and 
offering them to us in a new set of symbols. 

Then too the language of a speaker is of his own choosing. 
He uses his own vocabulary, his own sentence structure, his 
own peculiarly individual expression, idioms, and phrases. 
He has, in most cases, to give a considerable amount of 
conscious attention to the selection of these symbols. On 
the other hand, the language symbols to be uttered by the 
reader, the vocabulary, the sentence structure, and the 
rest are not his own. They are not in any sense the creation 
of the reader. 

The whole duty of the reader is to determine what the 
writer's purpose is, what meanings the language is intended 
to suggest, and then to utter the language with such vocal 
modulations, tones, inflections and the like, together with 



READING 297 

such visible motions and signs as may be helpful in stirring 
up the intended meanings. The use of the speech mechanism 
in reading is not essentially different from its use in speaking. 
Speech is always a means of communication and there can 
be no fundamental difference between the means of com- 
munication when the subject matter or meaning is being 
created by the speaker, and when it has been created by 
someone else who has, through written symbols, made it 
known to the speaker. 

We may safely assert that reading to others is simply a 
form of speaking. A good deal of speaking, that is not 
thought of as reading, is really reading. When you memorize 
beforehand the language which you are going to use in 
speaking and then utter it, you are in reality reading from 
memory. If you mean what you have meant previously and 
then utter language that you have written down and mem- 
orized previously, you are reading. This fact is recognized 
in the common term used to designate a memorized recita- 
tion of literary material as a "reading." 

In fact, the memorized reciting of a manuscript written 
out beforehand is also a reading, though often enough called 
"a speech." Such a recitation, be it observed, may be 
either effective or ineffective. Some men can recite so natu- 
rally and conversationally what they have previously mem- 
orized that no one would ever know it was not an extempora- 
neous speech. When Wendell Phillips had delivered one of 
his greatest speeches, a friend inquired about the method of 
preparation for such a speech, whereupon the orator con- 
fessed that it was not extemporaneous at all, but that the 
manuscript had been sent to the newspapers for publication 
before he made the speech. He had merely read it from 
memory. 

Observe speakers who read their speeches from manuscript, 
and then try to decide why some succeed and others fail. 



298 BETTER SPEECH 

You will find that the ones who succeed consult the written 
language merely for the sake of recalling the meanings, the 
sequence of ideas, and the wording, which they have de- 
termined in advance, and then use that wording. Generally 
those who fail are so busy trying to get from the page the 
meanings which they themselves had in mind when they 
prepared the manuscript, that they merely call off the words 
and do not speak at all. Certainly they do not com- 
municate. 

Reading to others is a form of speaking in which the meaning 
and the language have been determined in advance. It is clear 
that two readers may conceive a piece of literature in the 
same way; they may pronounce the words similarly, and 
yet may arouse very different reactions in the minds of those 
to whom they read. Why? Because their speaking may 
be very different. 

In preparing to read, any two readers would necessarily 
get different meanings from a selection, for they would in- 
terpret the language of the author differently. As Kerfoot 
says, "The terms of one's own equipment are the only 
terms in which a story can reach us." But even if they 
agreed upon the meanings, still they might differ greatly in 
their ability to translate the printed page into speech. 

II. KINDS OF MEANING IN READING 

Meanings are of two general kinds, logical content, and 
emotional content. 

A. Logical Content 

To illustrate what we mean by logical content: imagine 
listening to the secretary of an organization reading the 
minutes of a meeting, or to the clerk in a legislative body 
reading a bill to the house, or one person reading a manu- 
script for another. The sole aim of the readers in these 



READING 299 

cases is to make sure the audience catches the individual words 
and gets a bare comprehension of the subjects, predicates, 
modifiers, and connectives. A secretary who would try- 
to stir his audience to tears or laughter would not be called 
a good secretary. His business in reading is to carry merely 
plain meanings, what we call here logical content. 

B. Emotional Content 

There is almost always more than logical content in any 
language. Suppose you are trying to get the meaning from 
this sentence: "My friends: no one not in my situation can 
appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting." Or take 
this: "But as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" 
In attempting to get the meaning from such statements, 
you will need to study the feeling of the one who spoke them. 
You will want to appreciate the state of mind and heart out 
of which they are uttered. This state of mind, this per- 
sonal attitude, is difficult to put into cold handwriting or 
print; but anyone who would get the true and complete 
meaning must consider it, for it is quite as important as 
logical content, sometimes much more so. This type of 
meaning is called emotional content. 

Logical content furnishes a study in objective relation- 
ships, the relative importance of parts of speech, the diction- 
ary meanings of words, the structure of the sentence and 
the rhetoric of the composition. 

Emotional content furnishes a study in that inner sub- 
jective meaning which always lies behind our words. This 
meaning the printed page shows very poorly and inade- 
quately. It has to be obtained from the page largely by 
inference. Words that have only one logical dictionary 
meaning may mean a dozen different things when uttered. 
A very large portion of the reader's task is to decide which 
meaning the writer intended, a question to be answered 



300 BETTER SPEECH 

largely on the basis of the personal attitude and purpose 
which the writer intended his words to serve. 

This discussion of logical content and emotional content is 
another way, and perhaps a more accurate way, of calling 
attention to the old truth that meaning in a written com- 
position is a composite of thinking and feeling. The all im- 
portant consideration is the fundamental purpose of the 
writer. Unless we can discover the writer's feelings, his 
purposes and attitudes, we can never really read what he has 
written. It is of prime importance in learning to get mean- 
ings from a written page to acquire the ability to analyze 
the meaning, pick out the ideas, and discover the attitudes or 
purposes behind them. 

III. LEVELS OF MEANING 

It is possible to read a page in different ways and get very 
different amounts of meaning from the process. There are 
four " levels" of meaning which may be indicated about 
as follows: 

A. Recognition of individual words; 

B. Combination of these words into phrases revealing ideas 

and feelings, disconnectedly and in series; 

C. Combination of ideas and feelings into thoughts and 

emotions; 

D. Combinations of these thoughts and emotions into atti- 

tudes and purposes.* 

The extent of our analysis — the depth to which we have 
carried our study of material — determines the level of 
meaning. There is no meaning in the printed page except 
that which, by means of suggestions and guides from the 
writer, we as readers put into it. We decide what and how 
much meaning there is to be. 

* Adapted from J. S. Gaylord. 



READING 301 

IV. READING TO OTHERS 

A. Getting Meanings from Written Language 

The first important step in learning to read to others is 
learning to read to one's self. If the material to be read has 
been prepared thoroughly by the reader, then he can focus 
his attention upon speaking. If he is to read to himself 
satisfactorily, he must have a command of the reading tools. 

1. A reading vocabulary 

Words taken individually are vague and uncertain. If 
we are to understand language in print, we must know the 
variety of different meanings of individual words. It will 
help us in this to develop the dictionary habit. 

2. A knowledge of syntax and punctuation 

Before we can get meaning from a page, we must know not 
only the meanings of separate words, but we must also know 
how to interpret sentence structure and punctuation. The 
order of words in a sentence and the punctuation are in 
themselves signs of meaning sometimes far more important 
than the words themselves. 

The school boy who wrote on the board the words, "The 
teacher says the principal is a fool," made it, by putting a 
comma after the word " teacher" and after the word " prin- 
cipal," mean something quite different from what it meant 
without the commas. 

3. A knowledge of the principles of rhetoric and composition 

In order to get meanings from what we read, we must 
understand not only the elementary laws of grammar and 
punctuation, but we must also know the principles of 
unity, coherence, and emphasis. We must know how to 
analyze paragraph structure, and how to get all the larger 



^ 



302 BETTER SPEECH 

units of composition into their proper relations one to 
another. 

In acquiring the mastery of the technique of writing, 
nothing can be more profitable than letter writing and theme 
work. By understanding how meanings are put into written 
symbols we can learn how to get meanings out. 

EXERCISE 

Test your reading vocabulary on the following selections. Iden- 
tify words and phrases which suggest vague, hazy meanings or no 
meanings at all. Look them up and then re-read the selections. 
Report to the class on your experiences in getting the meanings. 

A. Hamlet's Advice to the Players 

" Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trip- 
pingjv on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of your players 
clb, I had as lie^ the .town crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the 
air to o much ^with your hand, thus; but use all gentl y; for in the 
very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, whulwjnd of your passion, 
you must acquire and beget a t emper ance that may give it smootti- 
.ness. 0, it offends me to the souLto near a robustious periwig -pated 
fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears~oTthe 
groundlings who, for the most part, are capable of nothing but 
inexplicable dumb-show and noise; I would have such a fellow 
whippecLfor o'er-doing Termagant; it out-herods Herod; pray you, 
avoid it. 

"Be not too tame, neither, but let your own discretion be your 
tutor; suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this 
special observance, that you o'erstepnot the modesty of nature: 
for anything so overdone, is from the purpose of playing^ whose end, 
both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror 
up to nature; to show virtue /her own feature^^corn her own image, 
and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure. Now 
this overdone. or come tardy off, though it make the unskillful laugh, 
cannot but make the judicious grieve; the censure of which one 
muslin your allowance o'erweigh a whole theatre of others. O, 
there be playersythat I have seen play, and heard others praise, 
and that highly, — not to speak it profanely, that neither having 
the accent of Christians, nor the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, 



READING 303 

have so strutted and bellowed, that I have thought some of nature's 
journeymen had made men, and not made them well, they imitated 
humanity, so abominably." 

Shakespeare. 

(B) Song of the Brook 

"I come from haunts of coot and hern, 

I make a sudden sally, 
And sparkle out among the fern, 

To bicker down the valley. 

By thirty hills I hurry down, 

Or slip between the ridges, 
By twenty thorps, a little town, 

And half a hundred bridges. 

I chatter over stony ways, 

In little sharps and trebles, 
I bubble into eddying bays, 

I babble on the pebbles. 

With many a curve my banks I fret, 

By many a field and fallow, 
And many a fairy foreland set, 

With willow-weed and mallow. 

I chatter, chatter, as I flow, 

To join the brimming river, 
For men may come and men may go, 

But I go on forever." 
\^ Tennyson. 

(C) The National Flag 

"A thoughtful mind, when it sees a nation's flag, sees not the 
flag, but the nation itself. When the French tricolor rolls out to the 
wind, we see France. When the new-found Italian flag is unfurled, 
we see Italy. When the united crosses of St. Andrew and St. George, 
on a fiery ground, set forth the banner of old England, we see not 
the cloth merely; there rises up before the mind the idea of that 
great monarchy. 

"This nation has a banner, too; and wherever this flag comes and 
men behold it, they see in its sacred emblazonry no ramping lion 



304 BETTER SPEECH 

and no fierce eagle, no embattled castles or insignia of imperial 
authority; they see the symbols of light. It is the banner of dawn. 
It means liberty; and the galley slave, the poor, oppressed conscript, 
the trodden-down creature of foreign despotism sees in the American 
flag the very promise of God." 

Henry Ward Beecher. 

(D) Lord Chatham's Eloquence 

"But that which gave most effect^ to his declaration, was the^air 
of sincerity, of vehement feeling, of moral elevation, which belonged 
^o_ajLthat he said. His style^wa^not always in the purest taste. 
Several ^p^rtemporary judges pronounced it, too florid. Walpole, 
the^ra|^urous eulogy which 'he pronounces^ on one 
jt orations, Owns that some ofHhe metaphors, were 
)o forced. Some of Pitt's quotations, and classical stories J were too 
trite, for a clever school-boy. But these were Qiceti£s r for which the 
audience ,Gared -Utile. The enthusiasm ,0^ the orator, infected all, 
who heard him; his^jirdor and his noble, bearing . put jire into the 
most frigid conceit, and gave dignity^ to the mosfpuerile allusion." 

T. B. Macaulay. 

(E) The Young Lawyer 

"It would be^uperfluous for me to say that this is the happiest 
moment, of my life, because it is— nojt. After-dinner speaking is 
an effort to appear- at ease and happy, though fearful and tumultu- 
ous. It is, indeed,' an unusual accomplishment. It is the pate-d$- 
foie-gras .of oratory, — a conditional, rather than a normal mode of 
expression. The archetype of the art is the impromptu speech. It 
is often an unplumed squab, for flight, and 'heavy with the stuff 
that dreams are made of — the art that's long .when time is fleeting. 
It attains its perfection, ex post facto, or retroactively; that js^ after 
the banquet hall's deserted, and the speaker is homeward bound, 
alone. How pregnant then, and cheerful are the words of philosophy: 
Sweet are the uses of — retrospection." 

A ~rp / . F. Charles Hume. 

(F) The Present Crisis 

"New occasions teach new duties; 
Time makes ancient good uncouth; 
They must upward still, and onward, 



READING 305 

Who would keep abreast of Truth; 
Lo! before us gleam her camp-fires! 
We ourselves must pilgrims be, 
Launch our Mayflower, and steer 
Boldly through the desperate winter sea, 
Nor attempt the Future's portal 
With the past's blood-rusted key." 

James Russell Lowell. 

(G) 

"They never fail who die in a great cause; the block may soak their 

gore; 
Their heads may sodden in the sun; their limbs 
Be strung to city-gates and castle walls; 
But still their spirit walks abroad. Though years 
Elapse, and others share as dark a gloom, 
They but augment the deep and sweeping thoughts 
Which overpower all others, and conduct 
The world at last to freedom." 

Byron. 

(H) 

"One of the illusions is, that the present hour is not the critical, 
decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best 
day in the year. No man has learned anything rightly, until he 
knows that every day is Doomsday." 

Emerson. 

(I) 
"He was in logic a great critic, 
Profoundly skilled in analytic; 
He could distinguish, and divide 
A hair 'twixt south and southwest side; 
On either which he would dispute, 
Confute, change hands, and still confute . 
He'd undertake to prove, by force 
Of argument, a man's no horse; 
He'd run in debt by disputation, 
And pay with ratiocination." 

Samuel Butler. 



306 BETTER SPEECH 

(J) Roosevelt 

"A heart so clean, a soul so bright 

Not every Age has found; 
A man he was compact of light, 

With little of the ground. 
He had a passion for the just, 
A hatred for ignoble lust; 
He showed a most implicit trust 

In those whose views were sound. 

He ever strove to lift mankind 

Above the low and base, 
To make men see, if they were blind, 

The vision of the Race. 
Impatient, with a mighty wrath, 
Was he with those who crossed his path; 
The lords of Gaza and of Gath — 

He smote them face to face. 

When War put on his gleaming casque, 

He donned a uniform, 
And where there was a manly task 

Was midmost in the storm; 
Yea, he who loved his home, from choice, 
In greatest danger did rejoice; 
And laughed to hear the cannon's voice—- 

Yet kept his pity warm. 

His breadth of mind embraced the Arts, 

Science was in his ken; 
A man he was of many parts, 

Like some of Plutarch's men. 
The plains, the Amazonian shores 
And regions where old Nilus pours 
His floods, strange myths and ancient lores, 

Inspired his facile pen. 

Orator, diplomat, Success 

Named him her very own; 
His faults were tinged with kindliness — 

Like thistles brightly blown. 



READING 307 

Forsooth, he was a man so great 
That when we seek to find his mate, 
We name him Brother to the State — 
Beloved, unique, alone." 

Laura Blackburn. 

(K) Armistice Day; Lest We Forget 

"If we wish to measure the achievement of the soldiers, we must 
estimate in its true proportions the power which they overthrew. 
It was perhaps necessary, in time of war, to create in the minds of 
the Allied peoples and of their friends not yet participating in the 
war, the impression that the enemy, from the outset, was over- 
matched. The German soldier, we were propagandized into be- 
lieving, was overtrained, underindividualized, fit only for the mass 
action which is fatal under modern conditions of warfare. He was 
commanded by gray-bearded generals, stiff mindedly bent on fight- 
ing the war in the manner of 1870. Magnificently equipped at the 
outset, the German army might inflict terrible initial losses upon 
the neighboring peoples who had counted too confidently on an 
unbroken peace. But in the end the dash and gallantry of the 
French, the fatalistic valor of the Russians, the doggedness of the 
English, the buoyancy of the Italians would shatter and destroy 
the German military power. We were all led to believe something 
of the kind in the early years of the war. But now every one knows 
that this was all romance and propaganda. The German military 
machine was tremendously efficient and formidable. The utmost 
of which the European allies were capable was to hold the balance 
even, denying victory to the Germans, but not winning it for them- 
selves. The breakdown of Germany, so often confidently predicted, 
had to await the entry into the war of the United States and the 
development of American military power. If the United States had 
remained aloof the war would have ended in a draw, and a draw 
not altogether favorable to the Allies. This is not to countenance 
the stupid chauvinism of the boast that 'we won the war.' The 
scales were tottering in the balance; America leapt into one of them 
and weighed it to the ground. That was her service and her re- 
sponsibility.' ' 

Editorial in The New Republic. 



308 BETTER SPEECH 

4. Getting the Perspective 

The more we know about a given composition, the better 
we can read it. By "getting the perspective" is meant 
taking a general view of the composition, getting it located 
in our experience. 

a. Acquaintance with the Author. Any man is better 
prepared to read a poem or story if he has acquired some 
acquaintance with the author. Reading then becomes a 
personal matter, and at once the meanings come to us more 
easily and more richly. One who has been in Cambridge 
and visited the homes of Lowell and Longfellow, or one who 
has met John Masefield or Alfred Noyes, has improved his 
ability to read what they have written. How much more 
meaning one gets from a book like Hamlin Garland's "A 
Son of the Middle Border," after having seen and heard the 
author tell of those boyhood experiences of which the book 
is such a delightful record. 

True it is that most of us can never meet the great masters 
of literature in the flesh, but we can all become informed 
as to the facts of their lives. All the feeling of familiarity with 
an author, all the insight into his manner of living and ways 
of thinking that we can acquire, are great aids to us in 
getting the meanings from what he has written. It is not 
true that without this knowledge we can get no meanings 
from print; but it is certain that in almost every instance 
this sort of information is a genuine help. The fact that 
we can read Shakespeare's plays and get wonderful mean- 
ings even though we know little of the great poet's life 
is no indication that we would not get more if we knew 
him better. Can you imagine what the Gettysburg ad- 
dress would mean separated from a knowledge of who 
and what Abraham Lincoln was, and of the circumstances 
under which the speech was delivered? What a man 



READING 309 

writes is almost always closely and directly related to 
what he is. 

b. Knowledge of the Circumstances of Writing. It is help- 
ful, in addition to developing a familiarity with the general 
facts of an author's life, to know the special conditions 
under which the particular composition was written. Do 
you not find this true? When we appreciate the circum- 
stances under which Ingersoll spoke the words of eulogy at 
his own brother's funeral, we get much more meaning from 
reading the words then we could otherwise. 

c. Appreciation of the Setting. It is a pretty dull boy 
who will not discover more meaning in Browning's poem, 
"How We Brought the Good News From Ghent to Aix," if 
he will look up the two towns on the map, if he will ascertain 
the number of miles the gallant horse traveled, if he will 
learn of the history of the country and people. What Amer- 
ican lad could fail to improve his reading of Sheridan's Ride 
by looking up the facts concerning it, the issues involved, the 
forces engaged in the battle, etc. Read the language spoken 
by Lincoln and Douglas in their great debates; read Winston 
Churchill's "The Crisis;" and then re-read the debate at 
Freeport. You will find it crowded with new meanings. 

Without acquiring this perspective through learning as 
much as possible concerning the writer, the circumstances 
of writing, and the setting of the material, it is impossible to 
get the maximum of meaning. 

"Crossing the Bar" was written by Tennyson when he was 
an old man. The "Epilogue" was Browning's last poem, 
written in the closing weeks of his life, and published for the 
first time on the very day of his death. Each poem is the 
farewell song of a great soul about to leave those who had 
loved him. A knowledge of these facts should help you to get 
more meaning from the verses than you would otherwise. 



310 BETTER SPEECH 

Epilogue to "Asolando" 

At the midnight in the silence of the sleep-time, 

When you set your fancies free, 
Will they pass to where — by death, fools think, imprisoned — 
Low he lies who once so loved you, whom you loved so, 
—Pity me? 

Oh to love so, be so loved, yet so mistaken! 

What had I on earth to do 
With the slothful, with the mawkish, the unmanly? 
Like the aimless, helpless, hopeless, did I drivel 
— Being — who? 

One who never turned his back but marched breast forward* 

Never doubted clouds would break, 
Never dreamed, tho' right were worsted, wrong would triumph, 
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, 
Sleep to wake. 

No, at noonday in the bustle of man's work-time 

Greet the unseen with a cheer! 
Bid him forward, breast and back as either should be, 
"Strive and thrive!" cry "Speed, — fight on, fare ever 
There as here!" 

Robert Browning. 

Crossing the Bar 

Sunset and evening star, 

And one clear call for me! 
And may there be no moaning of the bar, 

When I put out to sea. 

But such a tide as moving seems asleep, 

Too full for sound and foam, 
When that which drew from out the boundless deep 

Turns again home. 

Twilight and evening bell, 

And after that the dark! 
And may there be no sadness of farewell, 

When I embark; 



READING 311 

For tho' from out .our bourne of Time and Place 

The flood may bear me far, 
I hope to see my Pilot face to face 

When I have crossed the bar. 

EXERCISE 

Write out a statement developing the perspective which would be 
helpful in getting the meaning of the following selections. Use all 
available sources of information. 

A. At His Brother's Grave 

My Friends: I am going to do that which the dead oft promised 
he would do for me. 

The loved and loving brother, husband, father, friend, died where 
manhood's morning almost touches noon and while the shadows 
still were falling toward the west. 

He had not passed on life's highway the stone that marks the 
highest point, but, being weary for a moment, lay down by the 
wayside, and using his burden for a pillow, fell into that dreamless 
sleep that kisses down his eyelids still. While yet in love with life 
and raptured with the world, he passed to silence and pathetic dust. 

Yet, after all, it may be best, just in the happiest, sunniest hour 
of all the voyage, while eager winds are kissing every sail, to dash 
against the unseen rock, and in an instant hear the billows roar 
above a sunken ship. For, whether in midsea or 'mong the breakers 
of the farther shore, a wreck at last must mark the end of each and 
all. And every life, no matter if its every hour is rich with love and 
every moment jewelled with a joy, will at its close become a tragedy 
as sad and deep and dark as can be woven of the warp and woof of 
mystery and death. 

This brave and tender man in every storm of life was oak and 
rock, but in the sunshine he was vine and flower. He was the 
friend of all heroic souls. He climbed the heights and left all super- 
stitions far below, while on his forehead fell the golden dawning of 
the grander day. 

He loved the beautiful, and was with color, form, and music 
touched to tears. He sided with the weak, and with a willing hand 
gave alms; with loyal heart and with purest hands he faithfully dis- 
charged all public trusts. 

He was a worshipper of liberty, a friend of the oppressed. A 
thousands times I have heard him quote these words: "For justice 



312 BETTER SPEECH 

all place a temple, and all seasons summer." He believed that 
happiness was the only good, reason the only torch, justice the only 
worship, humanity the only religion, and love the only priest. He 
added to the sum of human joy; and were every one to whom he 
did some loving service to bring a blossom to his grave, he would 
sleep tonight beneath a wilderness of flowers. 

Life is a narrow vale between the cold and barren peaks of two 
eternities. We strive in vain to look beyond the heights. We cry 
aloud, and the only answer is the echo of our wailing cry. From 
the voiceless lips of the unreplying dead there comes no word; but 
in the night of death hope sees a star, and listening love can hear 
the rustle of a wing. 

He who sleeps here, when dying, mistaking the approach of death 
for the return of health, whispered with his latest breath, "I am 
better now." Let us believe, in spite of doubts and dogmas, and 
tears and fears, that these dear words are true of all the countless 
dead. 

And now to you who have been chosen, from among the many 
men he loved, to do the last sad office for the dead, we give his 
sacred dust. Speech cannot contain our love. There was, there 
is, no greater, stronger, manlier man. 

R. G. Ingersoll. 

B. The New South 

"Doctor Talmadge has drawn forjfou, with ajnaster's hand, the 
picture f of ,your returning armies. He has told yojuTTiow, in the 
pomp and circumstance of war, they came back to you, marching 
with proud and victorious tread, reading their glory, in a nation's 
eyes! W\M you bear with rne while I tell you of another army £hat 
sought its home at the close di the late war— ^an army that matched 
home injdef eat and 410$ in victory — in pathos and not in splendor, 
but in glory that. equaled yours, and to hearts as loving as ever 
welcomed heroes home? Let me picture to you, the footsore Con- 
federate soldier, as., buttoning up in his faded gray jacket the parole 
which was to bear testimony) to his children ofjiis fidelity and 
faith, he turned his face southward, from Appomattox in April, 
1865. Think of him as ragged, half-starved, heavy-hearted, en- 
feebled by want and wounds; having fought to exhaustion, he sur- 
renders his gun, ^wrings the hands of his comrades i n silence , and, 
— liftkig^his tear-stained and pallid face.for the lastjimftto the graves 
that dot the old Virginia hills, pulls ^nis gray cap over his brow and 



READING 313 

begins the slow and painful journey. What does he find — let me 
ask you, who went to your homes eager to find in the welcome you 
had justly earned, full payment for four year's sacrifice — what does 
he find when, having followed the battle-stained cross against over- 
whelming odds, dreading death not half so much as surrender, he 
reaches the home he left so prosperous and beautiful? 

"He finds his house in ruins, his farm devastated, his slaves free, 
his stock killed, his barns empty, his trade destroyed, his money 
worthless; his social system, feudal in its magnificence, swept away; 
his people without law or legal status, his comrades slain, and the 
burdens of others heavy on his shoulders. Crushed by defeat, his 
very traditions are gone; without money, credit, employment, 
material or training; and, besides all this, confronted with the 
gravest problem that ever met human intelligence, — 'the establish- 
ing of a status for the vast body of his liberated slaves. 

"What does he do — this hero in gray with a heart of gold? Does 
he sit down in sullenness and despair? Not for a day. Surely, God 
who had stripped him of his prosperity, inspired him in his adversity. 
As ruin was never before so overwhelming, never was restoration 
swifter. The soldier stepped from the trenches into the furrow; 
horses that had charged Federal guns marched before the plow, 
and fields that ran red with human blood in April were green with 
the harvest in June; women reared in luxury cut up their dresses 
and made breeches for their husbands, and, with a patience and 
heroism that fit women always as a garment, gave their hands to 
work. There was little bitterness in all this. Cheerfulness and 
frankness prevailed. 'Bill Arp' struck the keynote when he said: 
'Well, I killed as many of them as they did of me, and now I am 
going to work.' Or the soldier returning home after defeat and 
roasting some corn on the roadside, who made the remark to his 
comrades: 'You may leave the South if you want to, but I am going 
to Sandersville, kiss my wife and raise a crop, and if the Yankees 
fool with me any more I will whip 'em again.' I want to say to 
General Sherman — who is considered an able man in our parts, 
though some people think he is a kind of careless man about fire, — 
that from the ashes he left us in 1864 we have raised a brave and 
beautiful city; that somehow or other we have caught the sunshine 
in the bricks and mortar of our homes, and have builded therein not 
one ignoble prejudice or memory. 
\ "The New South is enamored of her new work. Her soul is 
stirred with the breath of a new life. The light of a grander day is 



314 BETTER SPEECH 

falling fair on her face. She is thrilling with the consciousness of 
growing power and prosperity. As she stands. upright^ full-statured 
and e_qnal among the people of the earth, breathing the keen air 
and looking out upon the expanding horizon, she understands that 
her emancipation came because in the inscrutable wisdom of God, 
her honest purpose was crossed and her brave armies were beaten. 
"This is said in no spirit of time-serving or apology. The South 
has nothing for which to apologize. She believes that the late 
struggle between the States was war and not rebellion, revolution 
and not conspiracy, and that her convictions were as honest as 
yours. I should be unjust to the dauntless spirit of the South and to 
my own convictions if I did not make this plain in this presence. The 
South has nothing to take back. In my native town of Athens is a 
monument that crowns its central hills — a plain white shaft. Deep 
cut into its shining side is a name dear to me above the names of 
men, that of a brave and simple man who died in a brave and simple 
faith. Not for all the glories of New England — from Plymouth 
Rock all the way — would I exchange the heritage he left me in his 
soldier's death. To the foot of that shaft I shall send my children's 
children to reverence him who ennobled their name wdth his heroic 
blood. But, sir, speaking from the shadow of that memory, which 
I honor as I do nothing else on earth, I say that the cause in which 
he suffered and for which he gave his life was adjudged by higher 
and fuller wisdom than his or mine, and I am glad the omniscient 
God held the balance of battle in His Almighty hand, and that 
human slavery was swept forever from American soil — the American 
Union saved from the wreck of war." 

Henry W. Grady . 



C. Farewell to Springfield 

"My Friends: No one not in my situation can appreciate my 
feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness 
of these people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a 
century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my 
children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not know- 
ing when or whether ever I may return, with a task before me 
greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the 
assistance of that Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot 
succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who 
can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, 



READING 315 

let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To his care com- 
mending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I 
bid you an affectionate farewell." 

Abraham Lincoln. 

D. Mercy 

"The quality of mercy is not strain'd; 
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 
Upon the place beneath: It is twice bless'd; 
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes: 
'Tis mightiest m the mightiest : it becomes 
The throned monarch better than his crown; 
His scepter shows the force of temporal power, 
The attribute to awe and majesty, 
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; 
But mercy is above this sceptered sway; 
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, 
It is an attribute to God himself; 
And earthly power doth then show likest God's 
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 
Though justice be thy plea, consider this, — 
That in the course of justice, none of us 
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; 
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render 
The deeds of mercy. 

Shakespeare. 

5. Paraphrasing 

Paraphrasing means giving the meaning of the passage 
in other language. Paraphrasing is based upon the idea 
that expressing the meaning in another form will make for a 
surer and clearer comprehension of it. A restatement pre- 
supposes an active assimilation of logical content on the 
part of the reader. Paraphrasing is especially helpful to 
those whose minds are slow to develop the fullness of mean- 
ing called for by the words over which the eye passes in 
reading. As a matter of fact the minds of most of us are slow 
enough in developing the meanings which the printed page 



316 BETTER SPEECH 

is intended to stimulate. Putting the ideas, pictures, and 
thoughts into our own language brings them more vitally 
into contact with our own experiences and thus enables us 
to respond somewhat as the author meant us to respond. 

By saying the meaning in different words we put ourselves 
to the test of deciding, first, whether we have caught any 
meaning, and second whether we have developed enough 
meaning. Paraphrasing is essentially a matter of definition 
by synonyms. 

EXERCISE 

Write a paraphrase of the following selections with the purpose 
of extracting as much meaning as possible: 

A. The Knapp- White Murder Case 

" Gentlemen, it is a most extraordinary case. In some respects 
it has hardly a precedent anywhere; certainly none in our New 
England history. This bloody drama exhibited no suddenly ex- 
cited, ungovernable rage. The actors in it were not surprised by 
any lion-like temptation springing upon their virtue, and over- 
coming it, before resistance could begin. Nor did they do the 
deed to glut savage vengeance, or satiate long-settled and deadly 
hate. It was a cool, calculating, money-making murder. It was all 
'hire and salary, not revenge.' It was the weighing of money 
against life; the counting out of so many pieces of silver against so 
many ounces of blood. 

"An aged man, without an enemy in the world, in his own house, 
and in his own bed, is made the victim of a butcherly murder for 
mere pay. Truly, here is a new lesson for painters and poets. 
Whosoever shall hereafter draw the portrait of murder, if he will 
show it as it has been exhibited where such example was last to 
have been looked for, — in the very bosom of our New England 
society,— let him not give it the grim visage of Moloch, the brow 
knitted by revenge, the face black with settled hate, and the blood- 
shot eye emitting livid fires of malice. Let him draw, rather, a 
decorous, smooth-faced, bloodless demon; a picture in repose, 
rather than in action; not so much an example of human nature 
in its depravity, and in its paroxysms of crime, as an infernal being, 
a fiend, in the ordinary display and development of his character. 



READING 317 

"The deed was executed with a degree of self-possession and 
steadiness equal to the wickedness with which it was planned. The 
circumstances now clearly in evidence spread out the whole scene 
before us. Deep sleep had fallen on the destined victim, and on 
all beneath his roof. A healthful old man, to whom sleep was sweet, 
the first sound slumbers of the night held him in their soft but 
strong embrace. The assassin enters, through the window al- 
ready prepared, into an unoccupied apartment. With noiseless 
foot he paces the lonely hall, half lighted by the moon. He winds 
up the ascent of the stairs, and reaches the door of the chamber. Of 
this he moves the lock, by soft and continued pressure, till it turns 
on its hinges without noise, and he enters, and beholds his victim 
before him. The room is uncommonly open to the admission of 
light. The face of the innocent sleeper is turned from the murderer, 
and the beams of the moon, resting on the gray locks of his aged 
temple, show him where to strike. The fatal blow is given, and the 
victim passes, without a struggle or a motion, from the repose of 
sleep to the repose of death! It is the assassin's purpose to make 
sure work; and he plies the dagger, though it is obvious that life 
has been destroyed by the blow of the bludgeon. He even raises 
the aged arm, that he may not fail in his aim at the heart, and re- 
places it again over the wounds of the poniard! To finish the 
picture, he explores the wrist for the pulse! He feels for it, and 
ascertains that it beats no longer! It is accomplished. The deed 
is done. He retreats, retraces his steps to the window, passes out 
through it as he came in, and escapes. He has done the murder. 
No eye has seen him; no ear has heard him. The secret is his own, 
and it is safe! Ah, gentlemen, that was a dreadful mistake! Such 
a secret can be safe nowhere. The whole creation of God has 
neither nook nor corner where the guilty can bestow it and say it is 
safe. Not to speak of the eye which pierces through all disguises, 
and beholds everything as in the splendor of noon, such secrets of 
guilt are never safe from detection, even by men. True it is, gen- 
erally speaking, that 'murder will out.' True it is that Providence 
hath so ordained, and doth so govern things, that those who break 
the great law of Heaven by shedding man's blood seldom succeed 
in avoiding discovery. Especially in a case exciting so much at- 
tention as this, discovery must come, and will come, sooner or 
later. A thousand eyes turn at once to explore every man, every 
thing, every circumstance connected with the time and place; a 
thousand ears catch every whisper; a thousand excited minds in- 



318 BETTER SPEECH 

tensely dwell on the scene, shedding all their light, and ready to 
kindle the slightest circumstance into a blaze of discovery. Mean- 
time the guilty soul cannot keep its own secret. It is false to itself, 
or, rather, it feels an irresistible impulse of conscience to be true 
to itself. It labors under its guilty possession, and knows not what 
to do with it. The human heart was not made for the residence of 
such an inhabitant. It finds itself preyed on by a torment which 
it dares not acknowledge to God or man. A vulture is devouring 
it, and it can ask no sympathy or assistance, either from heaven or 
earth. The secret which the murderer possesses soon comes to 
possess him, and, like the evil spirits of which we read, it overcomes 
him, and leads him whithersoever it will. He feels it beating at his 
heart, rising to his throat, and demanding disclosure. He thinks 
the whole world sees it in his face, reads it in his eyes, and almost 
hears its workings in the very silence of his thoughts. It has be- 
come his master. It betrays his discretion, it breaks down his 
courage, it conquers his prudence. When suspicions from without 
begin to embarrass him, and the net of circumstance to entangle 
him, the fatal secret struggles with still greater violence to burst 
forth. It must be confessed, it will be confessed; there is no refuge 
from confession but suicide, and suicide is confession." 

Daniel Webster. 

B. Men are Four. (An Arabian Proverb.) 

He who knows, and knows that he knows, — 

He is wise — follow him. 
He who knows, and knows not he knows, — 

He is asleep, — awake him. 
He who knows not, and knows not he knows not, — 

He is a fool — shun him. 
He who knows not, and knows he knows not, — 

He is a child — teach him. 

C 
Esau Wood sawed wood. Esau Wood would saw wood. All the 
wood Esau Wood saw Esau Wood would saw. In other words, all 
the wood Esau saw to saw Esau sought to saw. Oh, the wood Wood 
would saw! And Oh! the wood-saw with which Wood would saw 
wood. But one day Wood's wood-saw would saw no wood, and 
thus the wood Wood sawed was not the wood Wood would saw if 
Wood's wood-saw would saw wood. Now, Wood would saw wood 



READING 319 

with a wood-saw that would saw wood, so Esau sought a saw that 
would saw wood. One day Esau saw a saw, saw wood as no other 
wood-saw Wood saw would saw wood. In fact, of all the wood-saws 
Wood ever saw saw wood Wood never saw a wood-saw that would 
saw wood as the wood-saw Wood saw saw wood would saw wood, 
and I never saw a wood-saw that would saw as the wood-saw Wood 
saw would saw until I saw Esau Wood saw wood with the wood- 
saw Wood saw saw wood. Now Wood saws wood with the wood- 
saw Wood saw saw wood. 

D. Selection from the Opening Speech of 1916 Republican 

Campaign 

"The building of the nation still goes on. Our greatest task is 
yet before us. That task is the fusing of different racial elements 
into a compact, harmonious and distinctive people with a single 
patriotic devotion, the devotion to America; a single will, the will 
to make America strong, prosperous, and beneficent; a single hope, 
the hope that America shall achieve her rightful place as a leader 
of the progress of the world. 

" Just as the union of the states gave the form of a nation, so the 
union of the races must give the substance of nationhood. To this 
end our common watchword for a long time to come must be, not 
America first, but AMERICA ONLY. 

"In foreign relations that watchword must mean that without 
bluster or truckling, Americans, calm, steady, and unafraid, stand 
ready as a single people to maintain American rights, peaceably if 
we may, forcibly if we must. 

"Among ourselves America Only means, not that we shall stifle 
that natural affection for other lands from which our ancestors 
came, but that we shall realize that America and America Only is 
our hearthstone and roof tree; that here and here only are our in- 
terests, here and here only is our duty, here and here only our 
hearts abide. 

"America Only means that whatever the land of our origin, or 
the time of our coming to these shores, we shall so think and act and 
live that our children and children's children shall call America the 
land of their fathers. 

"Fate is either weaving out of our diverse citizenship a great new 
people in America or else we are doomed to racial dissensions that 
will disintegrate us in the end. God grant the first and God avert 
the last. And if, in our land, a distinctive race is being formed to 



320 BETTER SPEECH 

be known to the world and to history as 'The Americans,' the only 
loom on which that fabric can be woven is tolerance. 

"True Americanism means in equal measure freedom of opinion, 
respect for the opinion of others, and submission in conduct to the 
opinion of the majority while it lasts. 

"True Americanism requires that each man, while firmly holding 
to his own views, shall concede that others are equally sincere in 
their views. 

"True Americanism is as broad and kind as it is firm and brave. 
There is no bigotry in its creed. It is a civic religion of patriotic 
brotherhood, too noble and generous to exclude any group of loyal 
Americans from its communion. True Americanism is the expres- 
sion of that brightest word in the vocabulary of human freedom — 
liberalism. 

"When true Americanism shall have finished its creative work 
and a new and homogenous people shall appear among mankind, 
it will form a nation related to every other nation of the Occident. 
Thus it and it alone will be fitted to lead all the peoples of our blood 
to that union which must come if Western civilization is to advance 
or even to survive. 

"True Americanism trusts the common people. It believes that 
their heart is sound, their conscience clean, their instinct true; and 
that the only passion of their lives is love of America and devotion 
to the flag. They have proved these truths by patient toil in peace, 
and whole-hearted sacrifice in war. Abhorring conflict, the common 
people of America never yet have flinched from battle in the cause 
of liberty or in the defense of American rights. 

"True Americanism knows that at the fireside of the plain people 
dwell the strength and hope of the Republic and the promise of the 
grander America that shall be. On that rock we build our house, 
and though the floods come and the winds blow and beat upon that 
house it shall not fall, for it is founded, not on the shifting sands of 
class, but upon the everlasting rock of all the people's loyalty and 
affection for America and for America only." 

Albert J. Beveridge. 

E. Selection from the Keynote Speech of 1920 Democratic 
Convention 

"The president made every sacrifice for the cause of peace. The 
long continued strain, while composing differences abroad; the 
expenditure of nervous vitality and intellectual force in building a 



READING 321 

new order of human relationships upon the ruins of the old, laid 
heavy toll on his reserve powers. Then came the return in tri- 
umph, only to find here a wide-spread propaganda of opposition, 
making it imperative that he take up in his own country a struggle 
for that which had been won at such incalculable cost. Following 
the superhuman labors of seven years of unexampled service, this 
meant the wreck of his health, sickness for months upon a bed of 
pain, and worse than the physical sickness, the sickness of heart 
which comes from the knowledge that political adversaries, lost 
to the larger sense of things, are savagely destroying not merely 
the work of men's hands, but the world's hope of settled peace. 
This was the affliction — this the crucifixion. 

"As he lay stricken in the White House, the relentless hand of 
malice beat upon the door of the sick chamber. The enemies of the 
president on the floor of the senate repeated every slander that envy 
could invent, and they could scarcely control the open manifesta- 
tion of their glee when the great man was stricken at last. The 
congress was in session for months while the president lay in the 
White House, struggling with a terrifying illness and at times 
close to the point of death. He had been physicially wounded just 
as surely as were Garfield and McKinley and Lincoln, for it is but 
a difference of degree between fanatics and partizans. The congress, 
during all this period, when the whole heart of America ought to 
have been flowing out in love and sympathy, did not find time, amid 
their bickerings, to pass one resolution of generous import or extend 
one kindly inquiry as to the fate of the president of their own 
country. 

"And what was his offense? Merely this — that he strove to 
redeem the word that America had given to the world; that he 
sought to save a future generation from the agony through which 
this generation had passed; that he had taken seriously the promises 
that all nations had made that they would unite at the end of the 
war in a compact to preserve the peace of the world; and that he 
relied upon the good faith of his own people. If there was any 
mistake, it was that he made a too generous estimate of mankind, 
that he believed that the idealism which had made the war a great 
spiritual victory, could be relied upon to secure the legitimate fruit 
of the war — the reign of universal peace. 

"In one sense, it is quite immaterial what people say about the 
president. Nothing we can say can add to or detract from the fame 
that will flow down the unending channels of history. Generations 



322 BETTER SPEECH 

yet unborn will look back to this era and pay their tribute of honor 
to the man who led a people through troublous ways out of the 
valleys of selfishness up to the mountain tops of achievement and 
honor, and there showed them the promised land of freedom and 
safety and fraternity. Whether history records that they entered 
in or turned their backs upon the vision, it is all one with him — he is 
immortal. 

"It is said that if the dead who died in the great war were placed 
head to feet, they would stretch from New York to San Francisco 
and from San Francisco back again to New York; and if those who 
perished from starvation and from other causes collateral to the 
war were placed head to feet, they would reach around the globe 
itself. At this very hour, millions of men and women and little 
children are the victims of our hesitancy. How can the heart of 
America be closed to these things? 

"I have been many miles in this country and it has been my for- 
tune to visit most of the states of the union. It has so happened 
that I have been in many of these states when the boys were coming 
from the front. I have seen the great avenues of our splendid 
American cities lined with the populace, cheering and cheering 
again as these brave lads marched by, happy that they had come 
triumphantly home. But I have never witnessed these inspiring 
sights without thinking of the boys who did not come home. They 
do not rest as strangers in a strange land — these soldiers of liberty. 
The generous heart of France enfolds them. The women and the 
children of France cover their graves with flowers and water them 
with tears. Destiny seized these lads and led them far from home 
to die for an ideal. And yet they live and speak to us here in the 
homeland, not of trivial things but of immortal things. Reverence 
and piety and high resolves — surely these remain to us. In that 
heart of hearts where the great works of man are wrought, there 
can be no forgetting. Oh God, release the imprisoned soul of 
America, touch once more the hidden springs of the spirit, and reveal 
us to ourselves!" 

Homer S. Cummings. 



"I was very much thrilled, as I suppose you were, with the story 
of the old engineer on his locomotive crossing the Western prairie 
day after day and month after month. A little child would come 
out in front of her father's cabin and wave to the old engineer and 



READING 323 

he would wave back again. It became one of the joys of the old 
engineer's life this little child coming out and waving to him and 
he waving back. But one day the train was belated and night 
came on, and by the flash of the headlight of the locomotive the 
old engineer saw the child on the track. When the engineer saw 
the child on the track a great horror froze his soul, and he reversed 
the engine and leaped over on the cowcatcher, and though the 
train was slowing up, and slowing up, it seemed to the old engineer 
as if it were gaining in velocity. But, standing there on the cow- 
catcher, he waited for his opportunity, and with almost supernatural 
clutch he seized her and fell back upon the cowcatcher. The train 
halted, the passengers came around to see what was the matter, and 
there lay the old engineer on the cowcatcher, fainted dead away, 
the little child in his arms all unhurt. 

"He saved her. Grand thing, you say, for the old engineer to do. 
Yes, just as grand a thing for you to do. There are long trains of 
disaster coming on toward that soul. Yonder are long trains of dis- 
aster coming on toward another soul. You go out in the strength 
of the Eternal God and with supernatural clutch save someone, 
some man, some woman, some child. You can do it." 

" Courage, brother, do not stumble, 

Though thy path be dark as night; 
There's a star to guide the humble; 

Trust in God and do the right. 

"Some will love thee, some will hate thee, 

Some will flatter, some will slight; 
Cease from man, and look above thee; 

Trust in God and do the right." 

Thomas Dewitt Talmadge. 

6. Tone-Copying 

In our daily talk and conversation, we have standardized 
certain tones of voice which are recognized the world over as 
signs of certain emotional attitudes. For example, you can 
without fail detect anger, fear, hatred, or affection in the 
voice of one whose words you do not understand. The 
voice, as we have already seen, tells the story, by the char- 



324 BETTER SPEECH 

act eristic tone of the emotion expressed. These tones are 
more or less common to the human race and are little affected 
by differences in language. We all use them in one way or 
another. 

But when we read words written by another, most of the 
time we do not use the right tone in the right place, much 
of the time we are too toneless, failing utterly to enter into 
the personal intent of the author. We read in a coldly im- 
personal attitude, and thus entirely miss the deeper mean- 
ings. Particularly is this true when we are reading phrase- 
ology that is strange; for example, classical literature. By 
reading over a troublesome passage and arriving at a tenta- 
tive notion as to what tone the author would have used had 
he been uttering the language out loud, we can come to some 
notion of what it should sound like. Then this tone can be 
used in uttering ordinary language, thus giving the reader 
a fuller idea of what he is trying to say. 

7. Pantomime-Copying 

Pantomime-copying may also be of great assistance in 
getting at deeper meanings. Tone-copying is an attempt to 
get into the purposes and feelings of the author by imagin- 
ing and using the tone he would have used had he been 
speaking the words instead of writing them. Pantomime- 
copying is trying to achieve the same object through using 
the postures and bodily movements which you think the 
author would have used in speaking the language. The use 
of Tone-Copying and Pantomime-Copying is about the 
surest and easiest way of getting the amount of meaning 
needed in reading. They represent the best methods of 
determining what the writer really meant to say. They supply 
the speech signs that written language lacks. 

The majority of students, not to mention adults, suffer 
from their early training in reading, or in what is misnamed 



READING 325 

reading. We know that in the ordinary reading exercise 
the teacher is perfectly content if no words are left out or 
mispronounced. Little attention is paid to logical meaning 
and practically none to the personal feelings out of which 
such meanings originally sprang. This is all wrong. 

EXERCISE 

Read the following speech doing what the speaker is described as 
doing : — 

"Marshal Foch spoke very simply, very colloquially, very much a 
soldier talking to his friends. He stood chest out, head well back, 
with one leg well forward, suggesting the elastic posture of a 
fencer as he moves slightly and regularly at the knee as though 
about to lunge. 

"His main point was that he had done nothing. 'The Boches 
attacked/ he said, 'We stopped them; when they were stopped. I 
attacked them. Well, everyone did what he could and after some 
time we were all attacking along the four hundred miles of front — 
the French, the English, the Americans, the Belgians — and we all 
went for them.' At that time the Marshal raised both his hands 
and pushed forward and downward with his hands and body in one 
movement. 

"'Victory,' he said, 'is an inclined plane. We pushed them, all 
of us, and they simply had to retreat and retreat.' He continued 
to make the slightly downward movement with his hands, moving 
elastically at the knee in unison. ' — And after that we simply kept 
pushing and pushing and they went back and we were simply on 
the point of getting — ' — he waved his hands. 

'"Then they asked for an armistice. They accepted all our con- 
ditions' — shoulders, hands, eyebrows went up. 'Well — •!' 

"The impression everyone got was what a great shock it had 
been to the Marshal when the enemy surrendered." 

Manchester Guardian. 

B. Translating Written Language into Good Speech 

Reading to others is an involved and difficult process. 
To get good habits of reading requires hard work. Alert- 
ness of mind — which means alertness of body — is one of the 
great considerations. As Kerfoot says, "Alertness then is 



326 BETTER SPEECH 

the first requisite for the reader, and by alertness I mean 
here expectant interest, focused attention and a mental 
readiness to act." * And again, "For the right reading, 
however, it is not enough to be alert, the alertness must be 
both informed and disciplined. It must be based on under- 
standing and trained to the point of unconscious perform- 
ance." f When we have acquired the ability to read for 
ourselves, then reading to others becomes a matter of good 
speech. 

EXERCISES IN TONE-COPYING AND PANTOMIME-COPYING 

1. Read from the page or from memory the following selections, 
seeking to imitate what you imagine the original speaker's posture, 
movement, gesture, and voice were in delivering them: 



A. Reply to Hayne 

" 'Matches and overmatches'! Those terms are more applicable 
elsewhere than here, and fitter for other assemblies than this. Sir, 
the gentlemen seems to forget where and what we are. This is a 
Senate; a Senate of equals: of men of individual honor and personal 
character, and of absolute independence. We know no masters; 
we acknowledge no dictators. This is a hall for mutual consultation 
and discussion; not an arena for the exhibition of champions. I 
offer myself, sir, as a match for no man; I throw the challenge of 
debate at no man's feet. But then, sir, since the honorable member 
has put the question in a manner that calls for an answer, I will 
give him an answer; and I tell him that, holding myself to be the 
humblest of the members here, I yet know nothing in the arm of 
his friend from Missouri, either alone, or when aided by the arm 
of his friend from South Carolina, that need deter even me from 
espousing whatever opinions I may choose to espouse, from debating 
whatever I may choose to debate, or from speaking whatever I 
may see fit to say on the floor of the Senate. Sir, when uttered as 
matter of commendation or compliment, I should dissent from 
nothing which the honorable member might say of his friend. Still 
less do I put forth any pretensions of my own. But, when put to me 

* "How to Read.," p. 73. f Ibid., p. 77. 



READING 327 

as a matter of taunt, I throw it back, and say to the gentleman that 
he could possibly say nothing less likely than such a comparison 
to wound my pride of personal character. The anger of its tone 
rescued the remark from intentional irony, which otherwise prob- 
ably would have been its general acceptation. But, sir, if it be 
imagined that by this mutual quotation and commendation; if it 
be supposed that, by casting the characters of the drama, assigning 
to each his part; to one the attack, to another the cry of onset; or 
if it be thought that by a loud and empty vaunt of anticipated 
victory any laurels are to be won here; if it be imagined, especially, 
that any or all these things will shake any purpose of mine, I can 
tell the honorable member, once for all, that he is greatly mistaken, 
and that he is dealing with one of whose temper and character he 
has yet much to learn. Sir, I shall not allow myself on this oc- 
casion, I hope on no occasion, to be betrayed into any loss of temper; 
but if provoked, as I trust I never shall be, into crimination and 
recrimination, the honorable member may perhaps find that, in 
that contest, there will be blows to take as well as blows to give; 
that others can state comparisons as significant, at least, as his 
own; and that his impunity may possibly demand of him whatever 
powers of taunt and sarcasm he may possess. I commend him to 
a prudent husbandry of his resources. 

"I profess, sir, in my career, hitherto, to have kept steadily in 
view the prosperity and honor of the whole country, and the preser- 
vation of our Federal Union. It is to that Union we owe our safety 
at home and our consideration and dignity abroad. It is to that 
Union that we are chiefly indebted for whatever makes us most 
proud of our country. That Union we reached only by the discipline 
of our virtues in the severe school of adversity. It had its origin 
in the necessities of disordered finance, prostrate commerce, and 
ruined credit. Under its benign influence, these great interests 
immediately awoke as from the dead and sprang forth with new- 
ness of life. Every year of its duration has teemed with fresh proofs 
of its utility and its blessings; and, although our territory has 
stretched out wider and wider, and our population spread further 
and further, they have not outrun its protection or its benefits. 
It has been to us all a copious fountain of national, social and 
personal happiness. I have not allowed myself, sir, to look beyond 
the Union to see what might lie hidden in the dark recesses behind. 
I have not coolly weighed the chances of preserving liberty when the 
bonds that unite us together shall be broken asunder. I have not 



328 BETTER SPEECH 

accustomed myself to hang over the precipice of disunion to see 
whether, with my short sight, I can fathom the depth of the abyss 
below; nor could I regard him as a safe counselor in the affairs of 
this Government, whose thoughts should be mainly bent on con- 
sidering, not how the Union should be best preserved, but how 
tolerable might be the conditions of the people when it shall be 
broken up and destroyed. While the Union lasts we have high, 
exciting, gratifying prospects spread out before us, for us and our 
children. Beyond that I seek not to penetrate the veil. God grant 
that in my day, at least, that curtain may not rise! God grant 
that, on my vision, never may be opened what lies behind! When 
my eyes shall be turned to behold, for the last time, the sun in 
heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored 
fragments of a once glorious Union; on States dissevered, discord- 
ant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may 
be, in fraternal blood! Let their last feeble and lingering glance 
rather behold the gorgeous ensign of the Republic, now known and 
honored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms 
and trophies streaming in their original luster, not a stripe erased or 
polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its motto no such 
miserable interrogatory, as 'What is all this worth?' nor those 
other words of delusion and folly, 'Liberty first and union after- 
wards ;' but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living 
light, blazing on its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over 
the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other 
sentiment, dear to every true American heart — Liberty and Union, 
now and forever, one and inseparable!" 

Daniel Webster. 

B. Reply to Corry 

"Has the gentleman done? Has he completely done? He was 
unparliamentary from the beginning to the end of his speech. There 
was scarce a word he uttered that was not a violation of the privi- 
leges of the House. But I did not call him to order — why? Because 
the limited talents of some men render it impossible for them to 
be severe without being unparliamentary. But before I sit down I 
shall show him how to be severe and parliamentary at the same time. 

"On any other occasion I should think myself justifiable in 
treating with silent contempt anything which might fall from that 
honorable member; but there are times when the insignificance of 
the accuser is lost in the magnitude of the accusation. I know the 



READING 329 

difficulty the honorable gentleman labored under when he attacked 
me, conscious that, on a comparative view of our characters, public 
and private, there is nothing he could say which would injure me. 
The public would not believe the charge. I despise the falsehood. 
If such a charge were made by an honest man I would answer it in 
the manner in which I shall before I sit down. But I shall first 
reply to it when not made by an honest man. 

"The right honorable gentleman has called me 'an unimpeached 
traitor.' I ask why not 'traitor' unqualified by an epithet? I 
will tell him; it was because he durst not. It was the act of a 
coward, who raises his arm to strike, but has not the courage to 
give the blow. I will not call him villain, because it would be un- 
parliamentary, and he is a privy councilor. I will not call him fool, 
because he happens to be Chancellor of the Exchequer. But I say, 
he is one who has abused the privilege of Parliament and the free- 
dom of debate, by uttering language which, if spoken out of the 
house, I should answer only with a blow. I care not how high his 
situation, how low his character, how contemptible his speech; 
whether a privy councilor or a parasite, my answer would be a blow. 

"He has charged me with being connected with the rebels. The 
charge is utterly, totally, and meanly false. Does the honorable 
gentleman rely on the report of the House of Lords for the founda- 
tion of his assertion? If he does, I can prove to the committee 
there was a physical impossibility of that report being true. But I 
scorn to answer any man for my conduct, whether he be a political 
coxcomb or whether he has brought himself into power by a false 
glare of courage or not. 

"I have returned — not as the right honorable member has said, 
to raise another storm — I have returned to discharge an honorable 
debt of gratitude to my country, that conferred a great reward for 
past services, which, I am proud to say, was not greater than my 
desert. I have returned to protect that Constitution of which I 
was the parent and founder, from the assassination of such men as 
the right honorable gentleman and his unworthy associates. They 
are corrupt, they are seditious, and they, at this very moment, are 
in a conspiracy against their country. I have returned to refute 
a libel, as false as it is malicious, given to the public under the 
appellation of a report of the committee of the Lords. Here I 
stand, ready for impeachment or trial. I dare accusation. I defy 
the honorable gentleman; I defy the government; I defy their whole 
phalanx, let them come forth. I tell the ministers, I will neither 



330 BETTER SPEECH 

give quarter nor take it. I am here to lay the shattered remains of 
my constitution on the floor of this House, in defense of the liberties 
of my country." 

Henry Grattan. 

C. Protest Against Sentence as a Traitor 

My Lords: I am asked what have I to say why sentence of death 
should not be pronounced on me, according to law. I have nothing 
to say that can alter your predetermination, nor that it will become 
me to say, with any view to the mitigation of that sentence which 
you are to pronounce, and I must abide by. But I have that to 
say which interests me more than life, and which you have labored 
to destroy. I have much to say why my reputation should be 
rescued from the load of false accusation and calumny which has 
been cast upon it. I do not imagine that, seated where you are, 
your mind can be so free from prejudice as to receive the least im- 
pression from what I am going to utter. I have no hopes that I 
can anchor my character in the breast of a court constituted and 
trammeled as this is. I only wish, and that is the utmost that I 
expect, that your lordships may suffer it to float down your memories 
untainted by the foul breath of prejudice, until it finds some 
more hospitable harbor to shelter it from the storms by which it is 
buffeted. Were I only to suffer death, after being adjudged guilty 
by your tribunal, I should bow in silence, and meet the fate that 
awaits me without a murmur; but the sentence of the law which 
delivers my body to the executioner, will, through the ministry of 
the law, labor in its own vindication to consign my character to 
obloquy; for there must be guilt somewhere; whether in the sentence 
of the court, or in the catastrophe, time must determine. A man in 
my situation has not only to encounter the difficulties of fortune, 
and the force of power over minds which it has corrupted or sub- 
jugated, but the difficulties of established prejudice. The man 
dies, but his memory lives. That mine may not perish, that it may 
live in the respect of my countrymen, I seize upon this opportunity 
to vindicate myself from some of the charges alleged against me. 
When my spirit shall be wafted to a more friendly port — when my 
shade shall have joined the bands of those martyred heroes who have 
shed their blood on the scaffold and in the field, in the defense of 
their country and of virtue, this is my hope: I wish that my memory 
and my name may animate those who survive me, while I look down 
with complacency on the destruction of that perifidious government 



READING 331 

which upholds its domination by blasphemy of the Most High; 
which displays its power over man, as over the beasts of the forest; 
which sets man upon his brother, and lifts his hand, in the name 
of God, against the throat of his fellow who believes or doubts a 
little more or a little less than the government standard — a govern- 
ment which is steeled to barbarity by the cries of the orphans and 
the tears of the widows it has made. 

"Let no man dare, when I am dead, to charge me with dishonor; 
let no man attaint my memory, by believing that I could have en- 
gaged in any cause but that of my country's liberty and independ- 
ence; or that I could have become the pliant minion of power, in 
the oppression and misery of my country. The proclamation of 
the provisional government speaks for our views; no inference can 
be tortured from it to countenance barbarity or debasement at 
home, or subjection, humiliation, or treachery from abroad. I 
would not have submitted to a foreign oppressor, for the same 
reason that I would resist the foreign and domestic oppressor. In 
the dignity of freedom, I would have fought upon the threshold 
of my country, and its enemy should enter only by passing over 
my lifeless corpse. And am I, who lived but for my country, and 
who have subjected myself to the dangers of the jealous and watch- 
ful oppressor, and the bondage of the grave, only to give my country- 
men their rights, and my country her independence, — am I to be 
loaded with calumny, and not suffered to resent it? No; God forbid! 

"My lords, you are impatient for the sacrifice. The blood which 
you seek is not congealed by the artificial terrors which surround 
your victim — it circulates warmly and unruffled through the channels 
which God created for noble purposes, but which you are now bent 
to destroy for purposes so grievous that they cry to heaven. Be 
yet patient! I have but a few more words to say — I am going to 
my cold and silent grave — my lamp of life is nearly extinguished — 
my race is run — the grave opens to receive me and I sink into its 
bosom. I have but one request to ask at my departure from this 
world: it is — the charity of its silence. Let no man write my epi- 
taph; for, as no man who knows my motive dares now vindicate 
them, let not prejudice or ignorance asperse them. Let them and 
me rest in obscurity and peace, and my tomb remain uninscribed, 
and my memory in oblivion, until other times and other men can 
do justice to my character. When my country takes her place 
among the nations of the earth, and not till then, let my epitaph be 
written. I have done." Robert Emmett. 



332 BETTER SPEECH 



D. 



"The train from out the castle drew, 
But Marmion stopped to bid adieu: 
' Though something I might plain/ he said, 
'Of cold respect to stranger gue?t, 
Sent hither by your king's behest, 
While in Tantallon's towers I stayed, 
Part we in friendship from your land, 
And, noble earl, receive my hand.' — ■ 
But Douglas round him drew his cloak, 
Folded his arms, and thus he spoke: — ■ 
'My manors, halls, and bowers shall still 
Be open at my sovereign's will 
To each one whom he lists, howe'er 
Unmeet to be the owner's peer. 
My castles are my king's alone, 
From turret to foundation-stone — 
The hand of Douglas is his own, 
And never shall in friendly grasp, 
The hand of such as Marmion clasp.' 

"Burned Marmion' s swarthy cheek like fire 

And shook his very frame for ire, 

And — 'This to me!' he said, 

' An't were not for thy hoary beard, 

Such hand as Marmion's had not spared 

To cleave the Douglas' head! 

And first I tell thee, haughty peer, 

He who does England's message here, 

Although the meanest in her state, 

May well, proud Angus, be thy mate; 

And, Douglas, more I tell thee here, 

Even in thy pitch of pride, 

Here in thy hold, thy vassals near, — 

Nay, never look upon your lord, 

And lay your hands upon your sword, — ■ 

I tell thee thou'rt defied! 

And if thou said'st I am not peer 

To any lord in Scotland here, 

Lowland or Highland, far or near, 

Lord Angus, thou hast lied!' 



READING 333 

" On the earl's cheek the flush of rage 

O'ercame the ashen hue of age: 

Fierce he broke forth, — 'And darest thou then 

To beard the Hon in his den, 

The Douglas in his hall? 

And hopest thou hence unscathed to go? — ■ 

No, by St. Bride of Bothwell, no! 

Up drawbridge, grooms — what, warder, ho ! 

Let the portcullis fall.' 

Lord Marmion turned, — well was his need, 

And dashed the rowels in his steed, 

Like arrow through the archway sprung, 

The ponderous grate behind him rung; 

To pass there was such scanty room, 

The bars descending razed his plume." 

Sir Walter Scott. 

E. The Character of Charles the First 

"The advocates of Charles, like the advocates of other male- 
factors against whom overwhelming evidence is produced, gener- 
ally decline all controvery about the facts, and content themselves 
with calling testimony to character. He had so many private 
virtues! And had James the Second no private virtues? Was 
Oliver Cromwell, his bitterest enemies themselves being judges, 
destitute of private virtues? 

"And what, after all are the virtues ascribed to Charles? A re- 
ligious zeal, not more sincere than that of his son, and fully as weak 
and narrow-minded, and a few of the ordinary household decencies 
which half the tombstones in England claim for those who lie be- 
neath them. A good father! A good husband! Ample apologies 
indeed for fifteen years of persecution, tyranny, and falsehood! 

"We charge him with having broken his coronation oath; and 
we are told that he kept his marriage vow! We accuse him of 
having given up his people to the merciless inflictions of the most 
hot-headed and hard-hearted of prelates; and the defense is that he 
took his little son on his knee and kissed him! We censure him for 
having violated the articles of the Petition of Right, after having, 
for good and valuable consideration, promised to observe them; and 
we are informed that he was accustomed to hear prayers at six 
o'clock in the morning." 

T. B. Macaxjlay, 



334 BETTER SPEECH 



F. A Message to Garcia 



"When war broke out between Spain and the United States, it 
was very necessary to communicate quickly with the leader of the 
Insurgents. Garcia was somewhere in the mountain fastnesses of 
Cuba — no one knew where. No mail or telegraph message could 
reach him. The president must secure his cooperation, and quickly. 

"What to do! 

"Some one said to the President, 'There's a fellow by the name 
of Rowan will find Garcia for you if anybody can.' Rowan was 
sent for and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How 'the 
fellow by the name of Rowan' took the letter, sealed it up in an 
oilskin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by 
night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into 
the jungle, and in three weeks came out on the other side of the 
island, having traversed the hostile country on foot, and delivered 
his letter to Garcia, are things I have no special desire now to tell 
in detail. 

"The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave Rowan a 
letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter and did 
not ask, 'Where is he at?' By the Eternal! There is a man whose 
form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in 
every college of the land. It is not book-learning young men 
need, nor instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of the 
vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, 
concentrate their energies; do the thing — 'Carry a message to 
Garcia!' 

" General Garcia is dead now, but there are other Garcias. No 
man who has endeavored to carry out an enterprise where many 
hands were needed but has been well-nigh appalled at times by 
the imbecility of the average man — the inability or unwillingness to 
concentrate on a thing and do it. Slipshod assistance, foolish inat- 
tention, dowdy indifference, and half-hearted work seem the rule; 
and no man succeeds, unless, by hook or crook or threat he forces 
or bribes other men to assist him; or, mayhap, God in his goodness 
performs a miracle and sends him an angel of light for an assistant. 

" My heart goes out to the man who does his work when the ' boss' 
is away as well as when he is at home. The man who, when given 
a letter for Garcia, quietly takes the missive without asking any 
idiotic questions, and, with no lurking intention of chucking it into 
the nearest sewer or of doing aught else but deliver it, never gets 



READING 335 

'laid off' nor has to go on strike for higher wages. Civilization is 
one long, anxious search for just such individuals. Anything such a 
man asks for shall be granted; his kind is so rare that no employer 
can afford to let him go. He is wanted in every town, city, and 
village — in every office, shop, store, and factory. The world cries 
out for such; he is needed, and needed badly — the man who can 
carry a message to Garcia." 

Elbert Hubbard. 

2. Read to the class assigned selections of this chapter, striving 
to stir up all the meaning possible. 

3. Bring to the Speech class the literary works you have been 
studying in the class in Literature. In fact, the two studies should 
be combined; how to know and appreciate literature and how to 
interpret it with the voice and body. 

(a) Interpret your poetry to the class. It is not poetry as it 
stands on the printed page. 

(b) Read prose works aloud to the class to see if you have caught 
the meaning. 

(c) Parcel out the parts of a play, and read the play aloud in the 
class room, taking very special care to see that every sentence 
read aloud means what the author intended. See that the reader 
not only gets the sense, but shows how he ought to feel about the 
sentences he reads. 

(d) Read passages of oratory with something decidedly more 
than the mere presentation of the printed-page sense. 



APPENDICES 
PROJECTS FOR IMPROVING SPEECH 

There are two school activities which more than any others 
furnish an incentive for work toward improving speech. 
These are Acting and Debating. Accordingly there are here 
added to the regular text-book the following suggestions 
and exercises for staging plays and carrying on debates. 

These are intended to serve three purposes: 

1. To provide interesting ways of applying the principles 
of the text. 

2. To furnish a text and exercises for class work in the ele- 
ments of Play Producing and of Debating. 

3. To furnish aid to those who find themselves responsible 
for the success of school enterprises in the way of directing 
plays and conducting school and inter-school debates. 



337 



APPENDIX A 

I. THE NATURE OF ACTING 

Acting is Make-Believe. Many people look on acting as merely 
a matter of talking the lines that the writer of the play has written 
down in a book. Yet acting is very much more than just uttering 
sentences. Attempts to substitute for acting such things as brilliant 
and gorgeous lighting effect, scenery, music and dancing, choruses, 
and ballets, must inevitably fail to satisfy people seeking public enter- 
tainment through plays. It is still true that " the play's the thing; " 
and to have plays, the actors must play their parts. If they play 
well, the spectators enjoy it; if they play ill, the spectators proclaim 
it a poor show. 

A word as to what acting is. We often hear people say that they 
have enjoyed this or that dramatic production because it was so 
true to life, because it was so "natural." The moving pictures in 
particular have led us to look for minute detail in the way of stage 
setting and in the way of using hands and eyes and facial expression. 
As a consequence many people are confirmed in the conviction that 
the best way to play on the stage is to do as one would do in every- 
day life, that the best trait an actor can cultivate is to be "natural." 
Now this point of view is at the same time both correct and all 
wrong. If there is one thing that acting claims to be, above every- 
thing else in the world, it is that it is unnatural; it is showing off, 
mimicking, it is all a game of pretense, it is artificial in the extreme. 
An easy way to understand what acting really is, is to remember 
that it must of all things else be "stagey." We all have seen 
"stagey" people off the stage; we call them affected, unnatural; 
they possess the exaggerated walk, the excessive use of facial ex- 
pression, a drawn-out or exaggerated way of pronouncing the 
language, and a manner generally unsuited to everyday life. By 
our very use of the term "stagey" applied to these characteristics 
we indicate that we appreciate that what happens on the stage 
should be different from what it would be in everyday life. 

338 



APPENDIX A 339 

II. STAGE SPEECH 

Project The Voice.. First of all the actor must be distinct. He 
must pronounce his words so that nobody in the house can miss a 
single one. In most rooms or halls where dramatics are produced 
this is much more than a matter of enunciating sounds distinctly 
and pronouncing words correctly; it is a matter of what is known 
as projecting the voice. Remember that you are talking to more 
people than you are used to. The people on the back row have 
just as much interest in getting what you say as those on the front 
row; obviously, then, if you do not reach them with your voice, 
you are cutting them off from the best part of the evening's entertain- 
ment. So project your voice so that it goes clear to the person 
on the last row. 

Practice Overdoing in the Reading of Lines. In addition to this 
you must remember that stage talk is always an exaggerated talk. 
It cannot be like parlor chat or office gossip. Even though it may 
seem to people in their seats exactly like what they have heard in 
parlors or in offices, yet if it should be transferred precisely as it is 
to a parlor or an office, these same people would be very much 
startled and possibly disgusted at what they heard. As a general 
rule it would be well to advise all novices to practice overdoing the 
matter of distinctness and projection, rather than underdoing. 
Put that down as a safe rule. Overdo until a director or some 
competent critic tells you you are too strong, or too loud, or too 
forceful. Be unnaturally distinct, forceful, and clear. Remember 
it is easier to tone down than to tone up; and audiences insist on 
hearing clearly. 

Talk " Front." A specific piece of advice to improve the project- 
ing of the voice is to make sure to "talk front" as much as possible. 
Talking front is the name that is used for making sure that when- 
ever you have something important to say, you say it toward the 
audience. No matter if you seem to be talking to someone at your 
side or even to somebody behind you, there is always a way of 
moving and changing and turning the head and waiting while you 
turn, especially waiting, so that when it comes to an important 
word or an important part of a sentence, you can make sure that 
that part is uttered straight ahead to the audience. This applies 
especially in rooms and halls and buildings where hearing qualities 
are not good, and where the person on the last row is rather far 
away. In smaller places, the more intimate kind, there is op- 



340 APPENDIX A 

portunity for talking to one side or to the rear. However, you do 
not do this unless you are perfectly sure you can be heard in all 
parts of the house. If the audience does not hear what the whole 
thing is about, there is no chance that they can get the enjoyment 
out of the evening that they should have. 

Use Your Powers. Another important point to be impressed at 
the start is that successful acting comes better from actors who 
plunge in and go the limit rather than from those who hold back. 
Another way of saying this is, Use all you have for your part. Do 
not be afraid to do anything necessary with your voice, or your 
enunciation, or pronunciation, with your hands and face, bodily 
activity, and with your interpretation of written lines; it is much 
better to go too far than not far enough; a good director can hold 
young actors back much more easily than he can draw them out. 

Use Hands Intelligently. The hands of the actor can accomplish 
wonders in the presentation of feelings and ideas. The ordinary 
man in everyday life is rather awkward with his hands. If he should 
go on the stage and use them in precisely the same way that he does 
around the house or around his place of business, he would look only 
funny. He may be trying to act a tragic part, but if he does it the 
way he behaves every day, the audience will either laugh at him or 
j ust silently pity him and endure the show as best they can. Also the 
way one walks on the stage tells a great deal as to what sort of 
person he is. Every time a character enters the stage he ought, by 
the way he carries himself, to suggest to the audience immediately 
what sort of person he is. His very walk ought to be a revelation 
of his inner nature. 

Act All in One Piece. Especially important is it that you act 
"all in one piece." You have all seen amateur actors; have you 
ever stopped to think what it is that makes you call them amateurs? 
Or you have seen some of your own friends, so-called amateurs, do 
so well that you have considered them as good as professionals; 
and their friends have said of them afterwards "Well do you know, 
I just couldn't believe that was John, or Mary; it just made me 
think that I was looking at that person in the play." This is the 
only standard to aim at, to make your audience forget who you are, 
and to think only of the personage of the play. This result can 
be achieved only as you play that part all over; you must act all 
in one piece. If you are to be a "no'count" negro, you must have 
the shoulder jerk of the negro, and the projection of the chin, 
the flapping of the hands, the wriggle of the body, the shuffling 



APPENDIX A 341 

of the feet, the batting of the eyes, and all the other specific char- 
acteristics that an audience recognizes as belonging to a "no- 
'count" negro. If you are to be a dashing young hero, then you 
must walk with the precision of a person of distinction. Your hips 
must have the right turn, your knees must move correctly, your 
shoulders, your body, your neck, your arms, your hands, every 
single thing you do must carry out the impression of that particular 
character. 

Be sure that the audience will be studying the actor to pass judg- 
ment on what they think he is or ought to be. Now if he merely 
" walks on" and behaves the way he does in everyday life, there is 
every chance in the world that he will only be riduculous. Just for 
practice watch some of your friends as they walk down a hall or 
across the room or up an aisle or on the street; then imagine what 
that walk would look like on the stage. You will discover in all prob- 
ability that if you were a director and wanted a funny character, you 
would get a man to walk just that way. As a matter of fact that 
is precisely the way humor is sometimes produced on the stage; 
by means of a walk that is made to look like everyday life; it is in 
reality "natural." 

This opens up a very important phase of acting and helps answer 
the question as to what acting is. The stage is just a reproduction 
and imitation of life, however much it may be made to deceive 
us into believing it looks like life. The best test of this is found in 
the fact that if a person by accident walks across the stage in his 
own person and is recognized as not a part of the show, he creates 
great amusement for the audience. In the midst of the performance 
just let a stage hand walk out on the stage and act as he would act 
if he were at home, or on the street, or somewhere else. The result 
will always be the same; the audience will either laugh at him or 
think he is the most pitiable spectacle imaginable. If you want 
either comedy or tragedy in its crudest form, just take people as they 
are and put them on the stage. The ordinary man if presented ex- 
actly as he goes about his business, would be hilariously funny if his 
friends could sit in their seats and watch him do it. Or it might 
turn out just the other way, that if we feel sympathy for him and 
he "walks on" just as he is, we might almost weep for the sadness 
of the spectacle. In no case, however, or in the very rarest of 
cases, can you take a mere cross section of life, men as they are, 
and by putting it on the stage get good drama. 



342 APPENDIX A 



EXERCISES 

1. Get up an impersonation of a comedy passage from Shakespeare. 

Have all the actors assume the limit of awkward attitudes and 
postures, outlandish costumes, very eccentric voices — squeaky 
and rough and guttural and growling and shrill. Let each par- 
ticipant devise a walk and manner of general carriage that suits 
his particular character. 

2. Have the members of the class present some odd character; as an old 

farmer, a negro, an Irishman, a German, a Jew, a Chinaman, a 
lounge lizard, a flapper, an old lady, an elderly spinster. Try to 
have them make these appear like the ordinary types on the 
stage. Let the exercise be particularly focused upon the idea 
of getting them to act all in one piece and to plunge in fearlessly. 

3. Invent characters who fit the following method; make up conversa- 

tion for them: 

(a) A high, shrill voice, grasping hands. 

(b) A Southern drawl accompanied by very lazy motions. 

(c) A tired, weak voice, lame joints, sore feet. 

(d) A music-like lilt of voice, dancing and eager feet, quick, restless 

hands. 

(e) A rough growl, with hardened muscles and a slovenly gait. 

(f) The firm, clear tone of perfect health, abounding spirits, and 

a well-poised body. 

(g) The honey tones of insincere politeness and a manner that 

suggests an attempt to be over-nice and too ingratiating, 
(h) A bawling shout, with a swagger and an air of boastfulness. 
(i) A hushed tone, and an air of fear and awe. 

4. Invent dialogues between any two of the characters suggested in 

Exercise 3. Many surprising and interesting results can be 
achieved. 
5. Make up dialogue to fit the following characters and situations: 

(a) A book agent is trying to sell a patent wall black-board to a 

mother whose two children are eagerly looking on. 

(b) A foreman is " firing" a mill hand who has been caught stealing. 

(c) A local politician is trying to win the vote of a man who 

frankly says he doesn't believe in the politician's politics 
or ability. 

(d) An Italian and a Negro are digging a ditch and discussing the 

proposed cut in wages. 

(e) A "society lady" is complaining to a ribbon clerk that he 

does not show her enough courtesy. 

(f) A long-faced clergyman, an antiquated doctor, and the deaf 

justice of the peace are telling what they think of the 
village constable and liveryman. 



APPENDIX A 343 

(g) A "flapper" type of girl is explaining to a street car conduc- 
tor how she lost her pocket-book, when a "tea-dancer" 
friend of hers comes to the rescue, 
(h) A pedantic school teacher holds a conference to reprove a 
football player, a constitutional loafer, and a tricky 
trouble-maker for doing poor class work. 
6. Invent situations like those in Exercise 5; work out and hand in the 
dialogue. Combinations are limitless. 

A. Rules for Acting 

Acting is a high art. Probably no other art is more subject 
to rules and conventions. Those who desire to take part in stage 
productions will do well to know the rules. 

1. Avoid Amateurishness. "The essence of acting is illusion." 
Just as soon as your friends give more attention to you personally 
than to the character you are playing and the story of the play, the 
play stops. It is no longer acting, but a more or less unfortunate 
exhibition of yourself in an awkward situation. 

Amateur audiences at amateur shows enjoy mistakes, poor 
make-up, blunders, loss of memory, awkward stumbling over a 
chair, or a defect in clothing, more than they enjoy anything else; 
but when they get gleeful over such crudities, it is evidence that 
the acting and staging have been done amateurishly — which means 
awkwardly or unintelligent ly. 

2. Seem to ignore the audience. It dispels the illusion when it is 
evident that the actor sees the audience. So "talk front," but do 
not see anybody. Turn often toward the audience during conver- 
sation; especially when some word or phrase must be understood 
if the audience is to catch the general story or the particular idea. 

3. Observe Proper Tempo (Time). Good actors speak their lines 
with the widest variety of rate; actions take place both fast and 
slow, very fast and very slow; pauses are brief and pauses are long; 
some characters are speedy and others slow; certain parts of a 
scene are hurried up and others are slowed down. All this change 
of pace has a great deal to do with the kind of impression created 
upon the audience, and the doing of it awkwardly and without 
sufficient variety is one of the surest marks of the amateur. The 
key-note is variety. 

4. Study Interpretation Values of Lines. Extract all the juice 
from every line. This follows the advice about Tempo. However, 
it implies much more than time: it involves the right kind of Tone — 



344 APPENDIX A 

booming, piping, strident, mellow; the best degree of Force, and 
all the delicacy you can command in changes of Pitch. 

5. Study Action Values: "Business." The real fundamental 
of acting is "Business," doing intelligent and meaningful actions 
with hands and feet, shoulders and hips, head and face and eyes. 
A sure mark of crudeness is for an actor to stand inert spouting lines. 
To produce a play there must be action and Business. The audi- 
ence learns more through the eye than through the ear. The moving 
pictures show this conclusively. So, study lines to discover how 
many intelligent actions they lead to — walking, turning, changing 
position, using hands, head, and the whole body. Invent and use 
plenty of Business. 

6. Use Furniture for Stage Business. Furniture on the stage is 
there for a purpose. It is not there, as one might expect from 
watching most amateurs, to be dodged and shunned. If you want 
to create the impression of naturalness, use the furniture for all it 
is worth. In homes and offices people lay hands on chairs, they 
turn them around, they sit on tables and lean against fire-places; 
if they are angry, they kick stools; if they are embarrassed, they 
run their hands over the back of the chairs or grip the arms with 
visible intensity. There are scores of things that an ingenious 
actor can do to the furniture and so help carry the meaning he 
wants to get across the footlights. 

7. Gestures and the Audience. With which hand shall one ges- 
ture? The answer is easy: Almost always with the hands farthest 
from the audience, the "up-stage" hand. It is rare that one gestures 
with the hand nearer the footlights. This is a simple principle 
and when once understood overcomes many of the awkward move- 
ments noticable in amateurs. 

The same holds for kneeling. Drop down on the knee nearer the 
audience, the "down-stage" knee. This applies whether you are 
going to remain on one knee, or whether you are going down on 
both knees. In the latter case go down first on the one nearer the 
audience and then follow up with the other. It is a part of the 
same principle that the shorter of two people should be nearer the 
front. This must be taken with limitations, but is a valuable rule. 

8. Permit Only One Event at a Time. The basic rule for bring- 
ing out dramatic values is to allow only one event at a time. A 
great mistake that amateurs make is in giving the audience two 
things to think about at the same time. Attention needs to be 
focused; otherwise the audience is distracted and does not know 



APPENDIX A 345 

which of the two conflicting events to attend to. They are like the 
small boy at the three-ring circus. One thing at a time is a rule that 
will save you many awkward and amateurish situations. This 
does not mean that only one person at a time should move, or 
even that only one person at a time should talk; but it means 
that the audience should get only one impression. You can have 
five people talking at once and all moving about, providing you 
wish to give an impression of disorder and excitement. But you 
cannot have two talking or two moving at the same time if you 
want to give an impression of orderly conversation or of a well- 
regulated scene. Let one person talk, or, if you are getting your 
effect by action and not talk, let one person do the acting, while the 
rest hold the posture of listeners or spectators. 

9. Walking on Lines. In general there should be no walking 
while someone is speaking; this is likely to give two objects of at- 
tention of a distracting nature. You will get more value out of the 
lines and the action if most of the time the walking is done between 
speeches. Let your thought, as registered by your action, take you 
about the stage. If you move about, do it in such a way that the 
audience can see you thinking your way around. Do not merely 
"up and go" as if the director had shouted at you or as if you just 
remembered that you had orders to move. If you will remember 
that the acting is the most important part of the play, you can see 
why it is well most of the time to save the lines for one effect and 
the acting for another. Walk and talk at once only to suggest 
excitement, confusion, high speed. 

10. Catching up Cues. The most approved way of speaking your 
lines is almost to interrupt the line before yours. As soon as the last 
word of your cue is heard, be speaking; except in cases when a 
pause is needed for an action that is made without words. But in 
ordinary conversation on the stage, pick up cues immediately. 
This takes much practice and is one of the last items of preparation 
mastered by the cast. It has much to do with getting the right 
tempo into the play. 

11. Crossing. The manner of passing another person on the 
stage is of prime importance. It is called crossing. A cross occurs 
when one character in any way goes past another. There is a 
definite technique of crossing which should be followed: 

(a) The person initiating the cross goes in front — nearer the 
audience — of the person whom he crosses. 

(b) The person crossed must make some kind of movement by 



346 APPENDIX A 

way of recognizing that he has been crossed. The most common 
of these is to move in the opposite direction from the initiator of 
the cross. It is possible however that he may be in such a position 
as to find such a movement awkward. He can then register his 
recognition of a cross by a turn of his body or a shift of his weight 
or by some movement of his hands or head. 

(c) In most cases cross the stage in front of furniture. 

(d) These same rules apply for moving forward and backward as 
well as for moving sidewise. 

12. Turns. In which direction should one turn? The traditional 
answer has been: In the direction that does not bring your back 
toward the audience. This principle can be worked out from many 
different angles and in many different ways, but it is essentially 
very simple and easily applied. 

However, of late actors have been demonstrating that they can 
make any kind of turn they please if the situation calls for it. Some- 
times to turn so as not to show your back is the long way around; 
but a situation may arise calling for the quickest turn you can 
make, accordingly latter-day stage practice has adopted the sensible 
habit of making the turn, under such circumstances, in the quickest 
way possible. If you have lots of time, turn the old way; if speed 
is required, turn any way that saves time. 

The back to the audience can under some circumstances be made 
helpful and expressive. Sometimes an excellent way to express 
deep emotion is to turn the back and, by movements of the shoulders 
and hands and head and the stiffness or limpness of the legs, reveal 
the emotions you wish to express. This same device of keeping 
your back to the audience can be used during embarassing waits 
in which an actor is not important in the scene but in which he 
must stay on the stage; he can assume to be looking at pictures 
or gazing out of the window or merely happening to stand that way 
with his face away from the audience. 

13. Which Way to Face? When do you face toward other char- 
acters on the stage and when do you turn your back on them? This 
is an important question, for the audience reads meanings from 
your relation to other characters. If you dislike a person but are 
not definitely fighting or opposing him, you register this best by 
turning your head away from him; likewise if he embarrasses you, 
or if you fear him, or wish to express a desire to get away from 
him, you turn your face away, even though he may be talking to 
you. If you like him, and trust him, and are eager to hear what he 



APPENDIX A 347 

says, you face toward him when he speaks. Many subtle meanings 
and intentions can be conveyed by this device. 

14. Grouping. The way characters cluster together or stand 
apart suggests subtle interpretations for the audience. Serious mis- 
takes in this particular are easily made. People who dislike each 
other or are fighting each other, should not be in the same group, 
unless they are almost ready to come to blows. If the hero is tell- 
ing the villain to "be gone and leave the fair one in his protection," 
the villain should be by himself and the hero and fair one close 
together. When a stranger enters the room and it is intended 
that the audience shall understand that he is strange to the group, 
he should be set somehow apart. If you have a character who 
must be represented as a sinner or an outcast, put him by himself 
alone. But if he is being forgiven, get him into a group with his 
forgivers. Very subtle effects can be worked out thus by means 
of grouping and isolation. 

15. Wait for Laughter or Applause. About the very surest mark 
of all those that reveal the amateur is for an actor to go right on 
talking when an audience is doing its best to have the laugh that has 
been so carefully prepared for them. The audience have come to en- 
joy your show, and when you do not let them have their laugh, and 
for as long a time as they would like it, you are spoiling their enjoy- 
ment of the show. It is a wise procedure in the final rehearsals to 
have spectators stationed in the house coached to break out in 
goodly guffaws at points where the director expects laughter, 
and at any other points where he wishes the actors to be on guard. 
Then let the director insist that the actor shall wait, and wait, and 
wait, until the laughter dies down. Nothing is more exasperating 
to an audience than to have to stop laughing in order to hear the 
next line of an over-eager actor. The skillful actor will not only 
wait, but during the laughter will invent business with hands or 
face or furniture or the other characters to redouble the laughter 
and to keep it going. It is only the amateur who gets embarrassed 
or who charges ahead when the audience wants to laugh. 

16. Exits and Entrances. Exits and entrances are always im- 
portant. They are never accidental and must not appear casual. 
Do not just drift in or wander off. When you enter, be in character 
the instant you are in sight. Tell the audience as much as possible 
by your walk and actions who you are, why you have come in, and 
in what mood they catch you. Know just what impression ought 
to be made at each entrance. 



348 APPENDIX A 

Exits are even more important. Study how exits are made in 
picture shows; exits are never casual; they are always purposeful 
and meaningful. Certain rules apply: 

(a) Get near the exit before saying your last line. 

(b) Make a long walk before exit only when your part is to draw 
unusual attention to your departure; that is, when your departure 
is especially important to the action. 

(c) Turn before going out to say your last line toward the audi- 
ence or the others on the stage; except in cases of indicating extreme 
excitement, when one can face any direction the emotion suggests. 

(d) Register definite meaning and character by your actions as 
you go out. 

17. Action Should Precede Voice. It is a rule that your body, 
by gesture and movement and facial expression, should tell the audi- 
ence what you are about to say and precisely how you feel. For 
example: Some one has just said to you " That's not so;" your 
back has been toward the speaker, and his remark angers you. 
Will you say "Sir!" and then turn upon him? Not if you are a 
good actor; you will turn first and then say "Sir!" The same 
device applies in almost every possible situation. People see more 
quickly than they hear; so to keep their interest at a maximum, 
engage their eyes first and their ears next. 

18. Dramatic Preparation. Always remember the principle 
that on most matters the audience must have a preparation for 
what is going to take place; they must in reality know almost ex- 
actly what is going to happen. True, there must be some element 
of suspense in the denouement, that is, in the moment of the 
greatest interest, the climax; but most matters of detail must be 
forecast by "dramatic preparation." 

This is a principle not readily understood by amateurs. But 
to give your audience the greatest degree of satisfaction you must 
not keep them too much in the dark; you must keep them just on 
the point of knowing completely what is going to happen next. 
An audience that is completely baffled is an audience that is very 
unhappy, but an audience that has secrets on the stage characters 
enjoys its superior knowledge immensely. 

This works out in such situations as these: The character of each 
stage personage should be made manifest to the audience almost 
at his first appearance. One of the most uncomfortable things that 
can be done to an audience is to compel them to revise their opinion 
of a character. Just as bad is it to let them think that they are going 



APPENDIX A 349 

to have tragedy and then to give them comedy, or to promise 
comedy and deliver tragedy. Actors should not have secrets from 
the audience; it is all very proper for stage characters to have secrets 
on each other, but they must always take the audience along with 
them. Let the audience guess all they possibly can as to what is 
going to happen next, and they will have a perfectly delightful time. 
They will be all puffed up with pride at the superior wisdom they 
possess as compared with those poor stumbling and misguided 
people on the stage! 

B. Rules for Stage Technique 

Second to the actual acting in dramatic production is the dis- 
posal of characters on the stage and the manipulation of the non- 
human factors in the stage picture — the furniture, the curtain, and 
the "properties." 

19. Balance the Stage. Very important to the enjoyment of the 
audience is the way the stage is balanced. We can best explain what 
balance is by telling what it is not. Particularly it is not symmetry. 
A stage is symmetrical when you have two pieces of furniture on one 
side and two pieces just like them on the other side and similarly 
placed; a man and woman on one side and a man and woman on the 
other, in like positions. One of the surest marks of amateur play- 
producing is the symmetrical placing of characters to look like a 
church choir or a male quartet. Only in the rarest cases does a stage 
look correct with just as many people or things on one side as on the 
other and in symmetrical relations. Balance that comes from 
symmetry is valuable only in poster-like effects, in burlesques, and 
in fantasies. 

20. Achieve Unsymmetrical Balance. Balance is most of the 
time a matter of getting more people on one side of the stage than 
on the other or more people forward than back, or more back than 
forward, still giving the stage the same effect as if it were balanced 
symmetrically. 

Balance is a matter of weight of interest. A character who holds 
the audience's interest strongly, can be clear to one side of the 
stage and yet balance five people on the other side, if the audience 
is as interested in him alone as they are in the five others put to- 
gether. Furniture helps out in balance. Two people at a table at 
the left of the stage can balance four people in the open at the right, 
if the table holds objects of interest. One side of the stage can 
even be empty and can yet balance a group of people and furniture 



350 APPENDIX A 

on the other side, whenever the interest of the audience is sharply 
directed to something on that side of the stage. It may be a hidden 
necklace, for which they are looking; it may be that someone has 
just gone into the next room to do something about which they 
are very much agitated. 

The simplest device for getting balance is to see to it that the 
person who is dominating the scene at any given moment is some- 
where near the center of the stage. Actors can talk from the sides 
and back, but when they have several important speeches in a row 
and so hold the center of interest, they should be worked over 
toward the center. Remembering these two principles, that the 
person of the greatest importance for the moment should have the 
center, and that the others can be grouped to balance on either 
side of him according to their importance, there are countless com- 
binations that can be made and still give the stage proper balance. 
Occasionally a director can find an actor who will so thoroughly 
keep his head that he can be commissioned to "trim" the stage 
for balance; this means that if he finds the balance has been upset, 
he is commissioned to take whatever position will restore it. 

21. Work up Climaxes ; the " Big Scenes." To make a good play 
it is necessary to have a few "big scenes." These are moments in 
the play when excitement reaches a high pitch. "Big scenes" are 
almost always achieved by a rapid rate conjoined with loud talking, 
or by a slow rate linked with talk that is quiet, tense, and subdued. 
Every successful play should have one point of highest interest, 
its climax; usually the close of the next to the last act. This should 
be extra fast, or extra loud, or extra subdued, or extra deliberate — 
in any case something more out of the ordinary than what has been 
going on in other passages of the show. It usually involves a tableau, 
with the characters balanced in good array and with the situation 
held for as long a time as it is good. A rousing climax can often 
enough hold an audience for a longer time than the amateur ordina- 
rily suspects. 

22. Hold Tableaux. An important factor in avoiding the ama- 
teurish touch is that of holding the tableaux. When the action has 
moved up to a climax, then almost always the players and the di- 
rector have a chance to get the very best effect of all — a tableau. 
This means concretely that when they have achieved this high point, 
they give their audience a maximum of enjoyment by just hold- 
ing the situation for as long a time as it is good. A striking stage 
picture, with perfect balance of interest and attention, coming 



APPENDIX A 351 

at the moment of highest excitement, gives the audience its finest 
enjoyment of the evening. 

23. The Curtain. The Curtain plays a very important part in 
rounding out a scene. A well-planned scene should end amidst a 
good deal of emotion and tension; and the way the curtain is let down 
has a great deal to do with bringing this tension to just the right 
point. On a scene portraying the death of a character, the curtain 
ordinarily comes down very slowly; on a scene that has been fast 
and snappy, the curtain is likely to come down with equal speed. 
There are many degrees of slowness or speed with which the curtain 
can be lowered, and all of them are needed for the various kinds of 
scenes that can be devised. With good effect, on the proper oc- 
casion, the curtain can start slowly and end speedily, or start speed- 
ily and end slowly. In this connection great care should be taken 
that the curtain should begin to lower at just the right instant and 
that it should reach the floor at an instant just as precise. 

24. Lights on Stage. A simple principle, but one worth noting, is 
that lights which are a part of the stage setting should be so placed 
that they are not between the audience and the actors, getting 
in the eyes of the spectators. This applies mostly to candles on 
tables and desks and to electric bulbs on the walls. Akin to it is 
the rule that when placing a mirror on the stage, try to get it so that 
it does not throw a reflection of the footlight into the eyes of a part 
of the audience. 

25. Disclose Properties Judiciously. Suppose a certain letter 
is to be found on a table at a critical moment of a scene; in general 
let the audience be aware that a letter is on the table. If a pistol is 
to be drawn at a given juncture, it is usually well to let the audi- 
ence know it is in the drawer or in an actor's pocket. A wall-safe 
is behind a picture; some means must be devised of letting the 
audience know it is there; a furtive peek behind the picture when 
no one — on the stage — sees it done, a reference to it during con- 
versation, a significant glance, or an inspection of it to see if it is 
all right. 

EXERCISES AND ASSIGNMENTS IN DRAMATIC PRESENTA- 
TION: STAGE SPEECH AND TECHNIQUE. 

Many kinds of exercises and assignments can be devised by the 
use of scenes from classic drama, and by the use of one-set plays; 
that is, plays that need only one stage set for all the acts . 

The thing to be sought in class work in dramatics is the bring- 



352 APPENDIX A 

ing out of "dramatic values;" that is, extracting from the written 
book all the possibilities in the way of producing an entertainment 
that will profit and charm. Among the dramatic values that can 
be worked out in class are: 

a. Interpretation of lines: bringing out the full value of the spoken 

part of the acting. 

b. Impersonation; characterization: catching the spirit of the 

personage to be represented; using the whole body to good 
effect; responding all-in-one-piece. 

c. Business: using hands, clothing, properties, furniture to bring 

out the situation and the action. 

d. Crossings: moving the actors about the stage successfully. 

e. Balancing the Stage: devising effective stage pictures; changing 

effectively from one picture to the next. 

f. Setting and scenery: preparing the stage for the play. 

g. Tempo: securing the best rate and change of pace. 

h. Tableaux, climaxes, curtain: — all the devices of stage technique. 

i. Drilling a staff of workers for play production. 

Following is a list of scenes from classic drama which furnish 
almost endless opportunity for training in the arts of dramatic 
presentation.* The comments suggest the dramatic values for 
which each scene is serviceable as class work. 

1. The Merchant of Venice; Skakespeare. 

Act I, so. 2; interpretation and impersonation. 

Act I, sc. 3; interpretation and impersonation. 

Act II, sc. 2; especially good for characterization. 

Act III, sc. 1; quick change of mood and feeling in impersona- 
tion. 

Act III, sc. 2; setting stage, balance, interaction of characters, 
interpretation — all stage values, in fact. 

Act IV, sc. 1; court scene; excellent for all dramatic values. 

Act V, sc. 1; setting, atmosphere, dialogue in the finest strain 
of "high" comedy. 

2. Julius Ccesar; Shakespeare. 

Act I, sc. 2; balancing numerous characters, handling of full 
stage, superior interpretation and characteriza- 
tion. 

Act II, sc. 1; characterization, balancing a full stage. 

* All the exercises in this Appendix presuppose a grasp of the chapters 
on the rudiments of good speech; notably, Chapter III, Action; Chapter 
IV, Voice; Chapter IX, Reading. 



APPENDIX A 353 

Act III, sc. 1; elaborate problem in balancing stage and shift- 
ing the stage picture. 

Act III, sc. 2; mob scene, Antony's speech; study of stage 
interaction and balance. 

Act IV, sc. 3; The famous quarrel scene between Brutus and 
Cassius; also the appearance of Caesar's ghost. 
Excellent for many values. 

3. Macbeth; Shakespeare. 

Act I, sc. 3; the witches' caldron; characterization, atmos- 
phere, excellent chance for careful interpretation. 
Act I, sc. 5; interpretation of Lady Macbeth's thoughts. 
Act I, sc. 7; interpretation. 
Act II, sc. 1 and sc. 2; murder scene; very difficult, but the 

height of great drama. 
Act III, sc. 4; banquet scene; excellent problem in setting, 

interaction of characters, crossings, balance. 
Act V, sc. 1; sleep-walking scene; interpretation and setting, 
stirring action. 

4. A Midsummer Night's Dream; Shakespeare. 

Act I, sc. 1; dialogue, stage balance. 

Act I, sc. 2; excellent study of clowning; impersonation. 

Act II, sc. 1 ; impersonation of fairies, interpretative value in 

superior poetry; delicacy in interpretation and 

acting. 
Act III, sc. 1; mingling of clowns and fairies, excellent study 

in contrasts. 
Act III, sc. 2; elaborate, difficult, but worth trying. 
Aet V, sc. 1; mingling of high and low comedy; needs good act- 
ing. 

5. The Rivals; Sheridan. 

Act I, sc. 2; excellent character delineation; interpretation. 

Act III, sc. 1; excellent dialogue. 

Act III, sc. 3; characterization, action. 

Act IV, sc. 1; intricate; many stage values. 

Act V, sc. 3; the famous duel scene; offers all dramatic values. 

6. She Stoops to Conquer; Goldsmith. 

Act I, sc. 2; character study. 

Act II, sc. 2; character study; excellent comedy of interpreta- 
tion. 
Act III, sc. 1; complicated action; excellent characterization. 
Act IV, sc. 1; all dramatic values. 



354 APPENDIX A 



One-Act Plays for Practice in Dramatic Values 

1. The Dear Departed; Stanley Houghton; character delineation; 

dialect. 

2. Nevertheless; Stuart Walker, for impersonating children; setting. 

3. Her Tongue; Henry Arthur Jones; clever dialogue. 

4. Neighbors; Zona Gale (Wisconsin Plays); setting; characterization. 

5. Allison's Lad; Beulah Dix (also in Mayorga's book); soldiers; the 

theme is honor and courage; study of moods. 

6. The Old Lady Shows her Medals; Barrie; interpretation and char- 

acterization; Cockney dialect; finely sentimental. 

7. The Playgoers; Pinero (French); a full stage and capital study of 

characterization. 

8. Six Who Pass While the Lentils Boil; Walker; fantasy; needs im- 

agination and lively acting; can be played by girls. 

9. The Brink of Silence; Galbraith (in Mayorga's book) ; tense and 

highly dramatic; simple setting. 

10. The Little Man; Galsworthy (Cohen, One- Act Plays); affords 

practice in delicate shading of emphasis. 

11. Joint Owners in Spain; Alice Brown; women only. Excellent 

characterization and setting. 

12. 'Op-O'-Me-Thumb; Fenn and Price; (Lacy) impersonation, 

dialect, setting. 

13. The Rector; Rachel Crothers; (French) impersonation of village 

church types. 

14. Fortune and Men's Eyes; Josephine Preston Peabody (Cohen, 

One-Act Plays) ; furnishes rich blank verse for tone cultivation. 



APPENDIX B 

DIRECTING A PLAY FOR SCHOOL OR CLASS 

A. CHOOSING THE PLAY 

The matter of choosing the play to present is of course one of 
prime importance. There are plays and plays; but there are always 
only a limited few that will suit your particular purpose. Obvi- 
ously the more you know about the general field of drama and the 
plays that are to be had, the better you can choose one that suits 
the purpose. The first bit of advice always that can be given with 
profit is that it pays to put on a good thing. It is entirely a false 
assumption to believe that just because students are putting on a 
play, therefore any sort will do. It is equally false to assume 
that because they are young and inexperienced they should not 
put on the classical, the proved and tried dramas of ideas and 
sincerity. As a matter of experience we should say that the better 
the play the better the chances for a good production. Stating the 
case all at once: High schools will do well to work with Shakespeare. 
Shakespeare himself is so good that sometimes his plays take pretty 
well even when acted poorly. Yet the best effect that can be pro- 
duced by Shakespeare is brought out by the director and the actors. 
For amateurs it is good to be struggling upward, trying to do 
something better than they think they can do. In the main they 
will be surprised at how well they can do it. The very saddest 
spectacle in all the world of dramatics is to see a cheap, poorly 
written, poorly conceived play put on by poor actors. In that 
case all we can think of is "the poor audience!" For high school 
plays in particular the director can be sure that Shakespeare and 
Sheridan and Goldsmith are reliable — the classical and the semi- 
classical. "The Rivals" has been given thousands of times in high 
schools, and with great success; so also "She Stoops to Conquer"; 
and even "A School for Scandal." The plays from Shakespeare 
that work best for high schools are The Merchant of Venice, Julius 
Caesar, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's 
Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merry Wives of Windsor, A 

355 



356 APPENDIX B 

Winter's Tale, The Tempest, A Comedy of Errors, and The Taming 
of the Shrew. In case the actors can play tragedy, you can play 
scenes from Macbeth and possibly from Hamlet or Romeo and 
Juliet. 

Of modern drama there is a great suppfy. Here you reveal your 
taste in dramatic production. Plays by Barrie, Shaw, Oscar Wilde, 
Pinero, Henry Arthur Jones, Clyde Fitch, Augustus Thomas, 
Eugene O'Neill, are all sure to be of good caliber and very actable. 
At the close of this appendix * is a list of plays, and also a list of 
publishers from whom can be obtained, pamphlets giving the title 
and character of various plays. 

B. CHOOSING THE CAST 

Select Those Who Can Act. The very first requisite in choosing 
the members of the cast is to be sure to select actors. The play is 
to be played by the players, and if you have in your cast people 
who cannot play, then the whole thing will be upset. So first of all 
find out who can act. In particular, candidates who are afraid to 
move are hardly wanted in your cast. If people cannot get about 
the stage easily or are frightened stiff and stand in one place at the 
thought of being in a play, they are the most hopeless candidates of 
all. The people who will serve you best are those who are free in 
their arms and legs, backs and necks, heads, and facial muscles. 

Consider Stature. A few suggestions as to stature are helpful; 
for height must be kept in mind in certain situations. For example 
suppose a man and a woman are playing opposite each other in 
"straight" parts, a "juvenile lead" and an "ingenue." The man 
should be taller than the woman; both should be of about average 
stature, or slightly above the average. One who must play a heroic 
part had better be an inch or two taller than the others. If you 
have extreme comedy parts, you will gain by having your characters 
extremely tall or short, extremely fat or thin. In the case of a 
father and son, the staid tradition usually has the son slightly 
taller than the father, the daughter slightly taller than the mother. 
If the father is very much shorter than the son, or the daughter 
than the mother, you are very likely to produce a comedy effect. 
Again if you have a husband shorter than his wife, the situation is 
inevitably understood by the audience as meant for comedy. By 

* See pp. 362-379. Here will also be found lists of costumers, dealers 
in scenery, draperies, make-up and other stage accessories. 



APPENDIX B 357 

the same token if you have the husband taller than the wife by a 
wide margin, again it is accepted as a comedy intention. Char- 
acters that are set off against each other on the stage should be not 
very different in size except when you wish a comic or tragic effect. 

Interpretative Ability Important. One of the very most impor- 
tant considerations in choosing the characters is to choose the people 
who can talk well enough for public exhibition. For formal school 
shows — not class work — choose those who have clear, ringing, and vi- 
brant voices; also those with a distinct and careful enunciation, and 
especially those who have a feeling for what sentences mean. You 
will find some likely looking candidates with good voices who when 
you work with them in your rehearsals, reveal that they do not 
know what an English sentence means after they have read it; 
they can take a perfectly sensible sentence from Shakespeare or 
somebody else and make it sound perfectly foolish. Of course an 
intelligent and diligent director can ultimately drive these thick- 
skulled ones into saying the thing correctly, but it is a tremendous 
drain upon his energy; and if at the start he can find good inter- 
preters, he is saved much trouble. 

Choose Leads First. The director will do well to remember 
in choosing the cast to choose the "leads" first — get the most im- 
portant characters settled early and then with what candidates 
remain, fit out the remainder of the cast. Before selecting a lead 
it would be well to carry on a series of try-outs. Sometimes in one 
afternoon a director can find among his candidates the cast he 
wants. However, this is rather rare. More commonly the director 
discovers that he has for each of his parts two or three, possibly 
more, candidates from whom he cannot at the moment choose. 
Let him remember that it is all gain for him to carry on the try-out 
further. Additional try-outs bring him new information about the 
actor; they also help the shy ones, who may possibly be the best 
after all, to get over their fear and to register their true ability. 
At the same time all the actors are learning new things from each 
other and probably getting better as they go. 

Provide Understudies. For successful production provide a 
sufficient number of understudies. Some directors even go so far 
as not to announce their final selection for important parts until 
just a week or so before the play is to be given. In general this 
is not to be commended, as it makes more work for the director 
and leaves everybody pretty uncertain. However, for all the 
important parts, if possible, have understudies at work learning the 



358 APPENDIX B 

lines and trying to act them out as best they can. There is a fine 
moral effect in this, in that acting and being chosen for a part fre- 
quently seem to work like some kinds of strong wine; they go 
to the head; and there are some young people so constituted that 
when they have been definitely selected for a part, they become 
rather unteachable and unwilling to learn. 

C. REHEARSALS 

Reading the Play. After the play is chosen and the cast selected, 
the next step is to read the play to the cast. Let the actors be 
assembled at a specified time, sitting comfortably around the di- 
rector, while he reads the play and puts into it as much interpreta- 
tion and meaning as his knowledge of it at the time permits. During 
this reading let the various actors take notes as to what part they 
play in the whole show and let them study the proper perspective; 
especially let each ambitious player find out just how important 
he is — or unimportant — to the success of the performance. 

"Sides." Each character should be furnished with his part type- 
written on what is known as "sides." These are sheets of paper 
five and a half by eight and a half inches in dimension. These sides 
do not contain the whole play; merely the part in which each actor 
is concerned. This means that it contains his cues — the last few 
words just before he is to speak — and then the speeches that he is 
to give. All this he is to learn absolutely, cues and all. He should 
take especial care not to neglect his cues; any actor will be diligent 
enough to learn his lines, but there are those who think that they 
can pick up their cues after they get on the stage. They will inevit- 
ably find by sad experience, after blocking the whole rehearsal 
and distracting everybody else, that this does not work. So in 
learning your parts, be sure to learn your lines accurately and to 
learn the cues that tell you when it is time for you to speak. 

Memorizing Lines. The learning of your part is not so easy as it 
might seem. There are at least three stages of learning such a 
thing. First, you can learn it so that you can say it at home by 
yourself, and this of course is helpful. But this will not by a good 
deal get you through an evening's performance. The second 
stage is to learn it so that you can go into rehearsal and pick up 
your cues and get through your speeches. Yet this will not permit 
of acting and will be of no help to the show. The third and final 
stage is to have your part wholly committed, cues accurately in mind, 
lines so well learned that you will not have to worry as to whether 



APPENDIX B 359 

the next word is going to fall promptly into place. You can then 
go ahead confidently, with vigor and abandon, and play your part. 
Until you have perfected your learning of lines to this last stage, 
you are surely not ready to give a finished performance. Many 
an otherwise good play has been ruined by some actor who has 
not gone farther than the first or second stage of committing his 
part. 

Rehearsals. Certain matters of rehearsal need to be attended 
to with great care. In the first place, there should be a definite 
schedule of meetings, so that everybody will know when he is ex- 
pected to be on hand and where. Then the schedule must be 
kept rigidly. It must begin promptly, proceed without waste of time, 
and close practically on the minute. The director who allows par- 
ticipants in a play to come straggling in at late hours and to leave 
before it is over, is making trouble for himself. If participants are 
not ready at the moment, let the understudies have their chance. 
In all probability it will not take many such substitutions to bring 
about a perfect record of attendance. 

Quiet During Rehearsals. By all means everybody not on the 
stage must be quiet during rehearsal. Any person familiar with 
producing plays knows that the general excitement of the occasion 
sets everybody talking. If the director is not insistent, the talkers 
around the edges will make more noise than those on the stage, 
and so injure the whole rehearsal. 

Dress Rehearsals. The dress rehearsal is often the test of the 
success of the play. Tradition has it that a very hopeless dress 
rehearsal makes certain a very good presentation. There is much 
to support this. The final play will be successful in proportion as 
the actors are well keyed up to do their best. If they have gone 
through a very successful dress rehearsal and other successful re- 
hearsals preceding that, there will always be somebody in the cast 
who will convince himself that his troubles are over and that every- 
thing is all serene and easy from that point on. But facing an 
audience and going through rehearsals are such very different 
matters that the successful performance before an audience can 
be carried on only by people who have all their wits with them and 
who are doing their best. So the value of a dismal dress rehearsal 
is that it is likely to put everybody on his mettle, showing him his 
points of weakness, and convincing him that he is so far from 
perfect that he has much to do in order to be good enough for the 
play. 



360 APPENDIX B 

The important things to remember about the dress rehearsal 
are: (1) that the whole play should be run straight through, no 
matter how long it takes. Let the whole play go forward. (2) It 
is very much better if it can go on without any interference from the 
director, merely running by the mechanism of stage manager, 
property manager, electrician, and prompter; if halts and hitches 
occur, let the prompter straighten them out. (3) As far as pos- 
sible in the dress rehearsal get the tempo of the play — the changes 
in time. (4) As far as possible also play the rehearsal through 
in the same length of time it is expected to require for the actual 
performance; eliminate unnecessary waits and delays. 

When You Forget Lines. The best advice that can be given for 
making sure to remember lines is. to trust your memory. In this 
general connection let youthful actors take this advice as to the 
dangers of forgetting their parts. The best way in which to inspire 
confidence in your memory is to keep your body free. The person 
who gets stiff and tensed up all over his body is the one most 
certain to lose his cues and forget his lines. Whereas if you 
make sure to keep your body free and your arms and legs and head 
and face doing what they ought to do to represent the person you 
are acting, there is every likelihood that your lips and tongue will 
pronounce the words that go with the actions. So let it be repeated 
that the best way to keep from getting stage fright on the night of 
the performance and from forgetting one's lines, is to be sure to 
act, act, act; do that and you will find yourself fitting into your 
part and able more and more to find the word you want just when 
you reach for it. 

D. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE PLAY PERSONNEL 

Putting on a play requires organization, responsibility, and 
discipline. The following outline of the organization and distribu- 
tion of duties will prove helpful to those who wish to present drama- 
tics with a minimum of confusion and waste effort. 

1. The Director Must Be Supreme. Like an army a play does not 
permit of divided authority; there must be one supreme and domi- 
nant power. This is the Director. 

The Director chooses the cast, decides questions as to the inter- 
pretation of lines, costuming, stage setting, properties, lighting, 
and music. In fact the Director is one of the few kinds of czar yet 
living. There must be no divided authority in producing a play: 
committees are hopeless: temperaments arise and block proceed- 



APPENDIX B 361 

ings. It is better to have all the temperament in one place — the 
Director's head. 

The director plans the movements of the actors, accepts or 
corrects the interpretations of lines, prepares the stage pictures, 
and decides all issues that affect the performance. He takes advice, 
but only at his own discretion; he does not have to do so; it is not 
forced upon him. He is master; it must be so. 

The director makes out a prompt book of the play, showing 
all the movements of the actors, their groupings, the location of 
the furniture, the changes in lighting, all "off stage" effects, as 
thunder, bells, voices, the use of music, and anything else necessary 
to the play. 

2. The Director Uses the Following Helpers : 

a. Stage Manager: responsible for scenery, off-stage effects, the 
operation of doors, windows, lights; he must have and keep the stage 
ready for the actors and the action. 

b. Property Manager: furnishes the moveable things needed on 
the stage: furniture, furnishings, table materials, books — anything 
needed. 

One of his chief duties is to return properties after the play is over! 

c. Stage Carpenter: prepares whatever is to be constructed with 
hammer, saw, and nails. 

d. Electrician: attends to the lighting, under the orders of the 
Director. 

e. The Prompter: holds the book, both during rehearsals thus 
freeing the Director's hands and eyes and tongue, and on the night 
of the play. 

f. The Chief Musician: gets the music ready and fits it into the 
Director's general scheme. 

g. Advertising Manager: prepares the public to be interested in 
the play and to provide themselves with tickets. 

h. 'Box Office: ,J has the tickets in orderly array so that he can 
lay his hands on just the ticket he wants. 

i. Ticket Takers and Ushers: appear on time and keep things 
moving smoothly and expeditiously. 

DIRECTORY OF PLAYS AND STAGE ACCESSORIES 

The following lists of plays and dramatic accessories will help in 
staging good dramatic productions. The directory is given 
here, not so much with the idea that it is exhaustive, but rather 
that it is suggestive. An attempt has been made to give variety, 



362 APPENDIX B 

at the same time presenting lists that will be especially valuable to 
a teacher called on to take charge of this work, who has not had 
special training or experience in dramatics. The list of publishers 
will be found to be of particular value. Many of their catalogues 
may be had for the asking, while others will cost sums ranging 
from twenty-five cents up to three or four dollars. 

It will be found to be a good plan to have on hand not only the 
catalogues, but also as large a number of the plays as it is possible 
to get. Familiarity with dramatic literature is advisable for every 
director, not only from the dramatic, or producing, but from the 
literary viewpoint. It is to be hoped that this directory will be of 
assistance to all play directors in the high school field, and that it 
may be somewhat instrumental in bringing the work of dramatics 
up to the high standing that it should properly have. 

PUBLISHERS OF PLAYS 

The following list of publishers will assist directors in securing an 
abundance of information concerning useful plays. In most instances 
catalogues may be had for the asking; a few, however, cost sums ranging 
from twenty-five cents up to three or four dollars. In them will be 
found the plays listed here, as well as hundreds of others which are 
available for use. Royalties are stated in most of them, but many 
demand no royalty at all. It is our opinion that it is hard to get really 
good plays without the payment of a fee to the publisher or to the 
author, and in the majority of cases it will be found to be worth while 
to get that sort of play. 

Agency for Unpublished Plays, 41 Concord Ave., Boston, Mass. 

American Play Co., 451 Broadway, New York City. 

Walter H. Baker & Co., 5 Hamilton Place, Boston, Mass. 

Boni & Liveright, Inc., 105 West 40th St., New York City. 

Boston Drama League, 101 Tremont St., Boston, Mass. 

Brentano Publishing Co., Fifth Ave. and 27th St., New York City. 

Brown University Library, (Plays for To-day) Brown University, 

Providence, R. I. 
Denison & Co., T. S., 156 West Randolph St., Chicago, 111. 
Dick and Fitzgerald, 10 Ann St., New York City. 
Drama League Book Shop, 306 Riggs Bldg., Washington, D. C. 
Drama League of America, 59 East Van Buren St., Chicago, 111. 
Dramatic Publishing Co., 542 S. Dearborn St., Chicago, 111. 
Eldridge Entertainment House, Franklin, Ohio. 
F. W. Faxon, Dramatic Index, Boston, Mass. 
Samuel French & Co., 28-30 West 38th St., New York City. 
Lawrence Gomme, 2 East 29th St., New York City. 



APPENDIX B 363 

Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1 West 47th St., New York City. 

Henry Holt & Co., 19 West 44th St., New York City. 

B. W. Huebsch, Inc., New York City. 

Alice Kauser, 1432 Broadway, New York City. 

Mitchell Kennedy, 32 West 58th St., New York City. 

Little, Brown & Co., Boston, Mass. 

New York Drama League, 7 East 42nd St., New York City. 

Penn Publishing Co., 925 Filbert St., Philadelphia Pa. 

Rumsey Play Co., 152 West 46th St., New York City. 

Scott, Foresman & Co., (Dramatized Classics) 623 Wabash Ave., 

Chicago, 111. 
Sanger & Jordan, Times Bldg., New York City. 
Schubert Theatre Co., 1416 Broadway, New York City. 
Charles Scribner's Sons, 597 5th Ave., New York City. 
Stage Guild, 1527 Railway Exchange Bldg., Chicago., 111. 
Stewart & Kidd, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
The Sunwise Turn, 51 East 44th St., New York City. 
Clarence Stratton, Cleveland, Ohio. 
Norman Lee Swartout, Summit, New Jersey. 
University of Iowa Extension Bulletin No. 78 (Plays for High Schools), 

University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa. 
University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, Utah. 
Washington Square Book Shop, 17 West 8th St., New York City. 

BOOKS OF ONE-ACT PLAYS 

Ancey, George. Four Plays of the Free Theatre. Stewart & Kidd. 

Andreyev, Leonid. Five Plays. Scribners. 

Aldis, Mary. Plays for small stages. Five plays. Duffield. 

Barker, Granville. Three Short Plays. Little, Brown. 

Barrie, J. M. Echoes of War. Four Plays. Scribners. 

Barrie, J. M. Half hours. Scribners. 

Bennett, Arnold. Polite Farces. Three plays. Farnley, London. 

Brown, H. B. Short Plays from Dickens. Twenty-three sketches. 
Chapman & Hall, London. 

Brunner, Beatrice. Bits of Background. Four Plays. Knopf. 

Cameron, Margaret. Comedies in Miniature. Five plays. Double- 
day, Page. 

Cannan, Gilbert. Four Plays. Brentano. 

Clark, Barrett H. Representative One-Act Plays by British and Irish 
Authors. Twenty-one plays. Little, Brown. 

Cohen, Helen Louise. One-act Plays by Modern Authors. 16 plays. 
Harcourt, Brace. 

Cooke, Marjorie Benton. Dramatic Episodes. Ten plays. Dramatic 
Publishing Co. 

DeMusset, Alfred. Barbarine. Six plays. Dramatic Publishing Co. 



364 APPENDIX B 

Dix, Beulah Marie. Allison's Lad. Six plays. Holt. 

Dreiser, Theodore. Plays of Natural and Supernatural. Seven plays. 

Lane. 
Dunsany, Lord. Four Plays. Luce. 
Dunsany, Lord. Five Plays. Little, Brown. 

Eliot, Samuel A. Little Theatre Classics. Three volumes. Little, Brown. 
Ellis, Mrs. Havelock. Love in Danger. Three plays. Houghton. 
Enander, Hilda. Three Plays. Badger. 
Ervine, St. John. Four Irish Plays. Maunsel, London. 
Fitzmaurice, George. Five Plays. Little, Brown. 
Gibson, Preston. Six One-Act Plays. French. 
Glaspel, Susan. Plays. Eight plays, some long. Small, Maynard. 
Giacosa, Guiseppe. Sacred Ground. Three plays. Kennerly. 
Goldoni. Four Comedies. McClurg, Chicago. 

Goodman, Kenneth S. Quick Curtains. Seven Plays. Stage Guild. 
Graham, Bertha N. Spoiling the Broth. Six plays. French. 
Greene, Clay M. The Dispensation. Four Plays. Doran. 
Greene, Clay M. Four Plays. Doran. 
Gregory, Lady. New Comedies. Five plays. Putnams. 
Gregory, Lady. New Irish Comedies. Six plays. Putnams. 
Gregory, Lady. Seven Short Plays. Putnams. 
Grove Plays of the Bohemian Club. Three Volumes. Crocker, San 

Francisco. 
Guild, Thatcher. The Power of a God. Three Plays. University of 

Illinois Press. 
Henley and Stevenson. Three Plays (long). Scribners. 
Houghton, Stanley. Five One-Act Plays. French. 
Harvard Plays. Two Volumes. Four Plays each. Brentano. 
Hay, Ian. The Crimson Coconut. Three plays. Baker. 
Jex, John. Passion Playlets. Four plays. Cornhill Co., Detroit. 
Jennings, Gertrude. Four One-Act Plays. French. 
Jones, Henry Arthur. The Theatre of Ideas. Three plays. Doran. 
Knickerbocker, E. van B. Plays for Classroom Interpretation. Seven 

plays. Holt. 
Kreymborg, Alfred. Plays for Poet Mimes. Six plays. Sunwise Turn. 
Mackay, Constance D'Arcy. The Forest Princess. Five plays. Holt. 
Mackaye, Percy. Yankee Fantasies. Four plays. Duffield. 
Manners, J. Hartley. Happiness. Three plays. Dodd, Mead. 
Marks, Janet. Three Welsh Plays. Little, Brown. 
Mayorga, Margaret. Representative One-Act Plays. Twenty-five 

plays. Little, Brown. 
Merrinton, Marguerite. Festival plays. Six plays. Duffield. 
Middleton, George. Embers. Six plays. Holt. 
Middleton, George. Masks. Five plays. Holt. 
Morley, Malcom. Told by the Gate. Six plays. Gorham Press, Boston. 



APPENDIX B 365 

McMillan, Mary. Short Plays. Ten plays. Stewart & Kidd. 

McMillan, Mary. More Short Plays. Seven plays. Stewart & Kidd. 

Moeller, Phillip. Five Somewhat Historical Plays. Knopf. 

Morningside Plays. Four Plays. Shay. 

Nirdlinger, Charles. Four Short Plays. Kennerly. 

O'Neill, Eugene. The Moon of the Caribees. Six plays. Boni & Live- 
right. 

O'Brien, Seumas. Duty. Five plays. Little, Brown. 

Oliver, Margaret Scott. Six One-Act Plays. Badger, Boston. 

Pinski, David. Six Plays of the Yiddish Theatre. Luce. 

Phillips, Stephen. Lyrics and Dramas. Three plays. Lane. 

Provincetown Plays. Two volumes. Three plays each. Shay. 

Paine, Ursula. Plays of Democracy. Six plays. Harper. 

Reely, Mary K. Daily Bread. Two Plays. Wilson. 

Schnitzler, Arthur. Comedies of Words. Five Plays. Stewart & Kidd. 

Shay and Loving. Fifty Contemporary Plays. Stewart & Kidd. 

Smith, Alice M. Short Plays by Representative Authors. Macmillan. 

Stevens and Goodman. Masques of East and West. Five plays. 
Gomme. 

Sudermann, Hermann. Roses. Five plays. Scribners. 

Sutherland, Evelyn Greenleafe. Po' White Trash and Other One-Act 
Dramas. Nine Plays. Duffield. 

Sutro, Alfred. Five Little Plays. Brentano. 

Theis, Grover. Numbers and Other Plays. Five plays. Nicholas L. 
Brown, New York. 

Torrence, Ridgley. Plays for a Negro Theatre. Three plays. Mac- 
millan. 

Walker, Stuart. More Portmanteau Plays. Three plays, two long. 
Stewart & Kidd. 

Walker, Stuart. Portmanteau Plays. Four plays. Stewart & Kidd. 

Wilde, Percival. Confessional. Five plays. Holt. 

Wilde, Percival. The Unseen Host and Other Plays. Five plays. 
Little, Brown. 

Wilde, Percival. Dawn. Five Plays. Holt. 

Washington Square Plays. Four plays. Drama League Series. Double- 
day, Page. 

Watts, Mary S. Three Short Plays. MacMillan. 

Wisconsin Plays. Vol. 1. Three plays. Huebsch. 

Wisconsin Plays. Vol. 2. Four plays. Huebsch. 

Yeats, William B. The Hour Glass. Three Plays. Macmillan. 
It is not expected, or thought, that all the plays contained herein will 

be available, or suitable, for high school production. But in the volumes 

listed, there are many that are very usable. In the most cases the 

settings are simple, and "new theatre" ideas can be very effectively 

worked out. 



366 APPENDIX B 

COSTUMERS 

For the convenience of those giving plays requiring the use of cos- 
tumes, the following list of costumers will be found helpful: 

George Beck Costume Co., Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Cameron Costume Co., 29 West Randolph St., Chicago, 111. 

Carnival Costume Co., Milwaukee, Wis. 

Chicago Costume Co., 143 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, 111. 

Chicago Costume Works, Inc., 116-120 N. Franklin St., Chicago, 111. 

M. J. Clark Costume Co., St. Louis Mo. 

Eaves Costume Co., 226 W. 41st. St., New York City. 

Fritz Schoultz, 58 W. Lake St., Chicago, 111. 

Miller, Theatrical Costumer, 136 N. 7th St., Philadelphia, Pa. 

New York Costume Co., 137 N. Wabash Ave., Chicago, 111. 

Schmidt Costume and Wig Shop, 920 N. Clark St., Chicago, 111. 

F. Szwirschina, 1110 Vine St., Cincinnati, O. 

Van Horn Costume Co., 10 S. 10th St., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Waas & Co., Philadelphia. 

Winona Costume Co., Minneapolis, Minn. 

Make-up material can also be obtained from any of these, as well as 
from most of the publishing companies. 

SCENERY AND SETTINGS 

Scenery and settings can be obtained from the following firms. 
Similar houses will be found in almost all of the larger cities. 

The Calkins Studios, 64-66 East 22nd St., Chicago, 111. 

Eugene Cox, 1734 E. 31st St., Chicago, 111. 

Fabric Studios, 201-177 No. State St., Chicago, 111. 

Guthman Scenic Studios, 1324 Loomis Place, Chicago, 111. 

R. MacDonald, Bush Temple Theatre, 800 N. Clark St., Chicago, 111. 

Peltz & Carson, 1507 N. Clark St., Chicago, 111. 

The Sheppard Studios, 468 E. 31st St., Chicago, 111. 

Tiffin Scenic Studios, Tiffin, Ohio. 

Sosman and Landis, 417 S. Clinton St., Chicago, 111. 

Universal Stage Lighting Co., 240 W. 50th St., New York City. 

BOOKS ON DIRECTING AND ACTING 

Calvert, Louis, Problems of the Actor. Holt. 

Clark, Barrett H., How to Produce Amateur Plays. Little, Brown. 

Johnson, Gertrude E., Choosing a Play. Century. 

Krows, Play Production in America. Holt. 

Mackay, Constance DArcy, Costumes and scenery for Amateurs. Holt. 

Mackay, Constance DArcy, How to Produce Children's Plays. Holt. 

Taylor, E. P., Practical Stage Directing for Amateurs. Dutton. 



APPENDIX B 367 

The Ben Greet Shakespeare; Acting Version for amateurs, with abundant 
stage directions; Doubleday, Page and Co.; several of the best- 
known plays thus prepared for the director. 

LIST OF PLAYS 
I. Easy One-Act Plays 

Allison's Lad, by Beulah Marie Dix. (In Mayorga, Rep. One-Act Plays.) 

Six men, costumes of 1648. Story of the Civil War in England. 

Holt, or Little, Brown. 
As Good as Gold, by Lawrence Housman. Morality play for seven men. 

Setting simple. Royalty. French. 
Augustus in Search of a Father, by Chapin. Comedy for six men. French 
Barbara, by Jerome K. Jerome. Comedy drama for two men and two 

women. Good parts, well balanced. Penn. 
Between the Soup amd the Savoury, by Jennings. Farce for three women. 

Scene in a kitchen during the serving of a meal. Chance for local 

' ' take-offs . ' ' French . 
Bills, by John M. Francis. Farce for two men and one woman. The 

eternal problem of debt, and its unusual solution. French. 
The Bogie Men, by Lady Gregory, Good comedy for two boys, Irish, 

and chimney-sweeps. Interior set easy. (In New Comedies.) 

Putnams. j/^ 
The Bank Account, by Brock. Society drama for one man and two 

women. Not easy, but possible. Brentano. 
The Dear Departed, by Stanley Houghton. Comedy, for three man and 

three women. The daughters divide the property — too early. 

French. 
Dramatic Episodes, by Marjorie Benton Cooke. A volume containing 

ten short plays of varying length, and with varying numbers of 

roles. Good. Listed elsewhere. 
The Day that Lincoln Died, by P. Warren and W. Hutchins. A play for 

five men and two women. The Lincoln spirit is felt throughout 

this little play. Scene exterior. Baker. 
First Aid to the Wounded, by Montague. Comedy for one man and one 

woman. One's illness depends on the nurse — if she is pretty, 

that also makes a difference. French. 
Feed the Brute, by George Paston. Play for one man and two women. 

Music, it seems, is not the only thing that hath charms. French. 
The Florist Shop, by Hawkbridge. Play for three men and two women. 

Brentano. 
Food, by de Mille. Farce for two men and one woman. The high cost 

of living is the basis of this play. French. 
Hannah Gives Notice, by Alice Thompson. Comedy for four women. 

The attempt of a visiting niece to play the part of the maid furnishes 

no end of complications. French. 



368 APPENDIX B 

Henry, Where are You? by Beulah King. Uncle Henry is delivered 
from the tyranny of his sister, by the machinations of a bevy of 
charming nieces. Comedy for one man and six women. 

Her Tongue, by Henry Arthur Jones. (In The Theatre of Ideas.) 
Comedy for two men and two women. A lively talkative girl 
mixes things up thoroughly. Doran. 

Hyacinth Halvey, by Lady Gregory. Comedy for four men and two 
women. (In Seven Short Plays.) To Hyacinth Halvey a good 
reputation is a thing to be gotten rid of. Luce. 

Vm Going, by Tristan Bernard. Farce for one man and one woman. 
Henri finds it hard to get away from his wife even for an after- 
noon. French. 

Isosceles, by W. B. Hare. Good burlesque on the "triangle" situation. 
"Howlingly funny." Baker. 

Id on Parle Francais, by T. J. Williams. A farce for three men and four 
women. Plain interior. Baker. 

Joint Owners in Spain, by Alice Brown. Comedy for four women. 
Pathetic and humorous mingle in appeal. The inmates of an old 
ladies' home settle their difficulties in a new manner. Baker. 

The Loving Cup, by Alice Brown. Play for four men and nine women. 
Here again is a mixture of tears and smiles. The loving cup is 
used for an entirely different purpose than that for which it was 
intended. Baker. 

The Lost Silk Hat, by Lord Dunsany. Comedy for five men. A silk 
hat and its disappearance are effective in patching up a quarrel 
between a lover and his beloved. (In Five Plays.) Little, 
Brown. 

Miss Civilization, by R. H. Davis. Play for four men and one woman. 
The one woman outwits three crooks, and brings about their cap- 
ture. Simple setting. French. 

Mrs. Oakley's Telephone, by Jennings. Comedy for four women. Good 
character parts, a German maid and an Irish cook, furnish the 
comedy, and the mixing of two telephone numbers affords sufficient 
complication. French. 

The Neighbors, by Zona Gale. (In Wisconsin Plays.) Play for two men 
and six women. All the characters are willing to put in their little 
to help out the one that has come to need it — as neighbors should. 
Huebsch. 

The Old Lady Shows her Medals, by Barrie. A pathetic story of the 
great war. Scribners. 

On Bail, by Middleton. Play for two men and one woman. This is 
not an easy play, but it can be done, if carefully thought out. Re- 
quires some strong acting, and careful directing. French. 

'Op-o'-Me-Thumb, by Fern and Pryce. Comedy for one man and five 
women. 'Mandy is a dreamer; her dream nearly comes true. Lacy. 



APPENDIX B 369 

Overtones, by Alice Gerstenberg. Satire for four women. Two play 
the parts of the others' primitive selves. Another of those rather 
hard, but possible things, for inexperienced players. (In Washing- 
ton Square Plays.) Doubleday, Page. 

The Piper's Pay, by Margaret Cameron. Comedy for seven women. 
Story of the difficulties in which a society woman found herself 
through the taking of silver spoons as souvenirs from various hotels 
and cafes. After she is thoroughly discomfited, the affair ends 
happily. French. 

The Playgoers, by Pinero. Comedy for two men and six women. The 
young wife tries to make playgoers of the servants, for their edi- 
fication. But her troubles are many. French. 

The Proposal, by Tchekov. Farce for two men and one women. Satire 
on the customs of the Russian peasant in the matter of marriage. 
French. 

A Pot of Broth, by William B. Yeats. An Irish comedy for two men and 
one woman. An Irish beggar succeeds in getting a meal from a 
hard-hearted Irish woman. (In The Hour Glass and Other Plays.) 
Macmillan. 

The Rector, by Rachel Crothers. Comedy for one man and six women. 
The plans of the women of the flock to marry off their rector do 
not carry out, and he finally takes the woman of his choice. French. 

Rosalie, by Max Maurey. Comedy for one man and two women. Rosa- 
lie, the maid, gets her master and mistress into trouble, and out 
again. Played with success by the University of Chicago Dramatic 
Club. French. 

Six Cups of Chocolate, by Matthews. Comedy for six women. Harpers. 

Spreading the News, by Lady Gregory. Comedy for seven men and 
three women. The story is about the way in which news, false or 
true, will spread and grow. Lively, and not too difficult. (In 
Seven Short Plays.) Luce. (Also in Cohen, One-Act Plays, Har- 
court, Brace.) 

Suppressed Desires, by Susan Glaspel. Comedy for one man and two 
women. Satire on Psychoanalysis. Two scenes, one setting. Has 
been presented many times by amateurs. Must go with a snap. 
(In Plays.) Small, Maynard. 

The Slacker, by F. B. Tull. Patriotic play for two men and seven women. 
The "slacker" finds out that his mother and sweetheart wanted 
him to go all the time. Baker. 

A Taking Way by I. G. Osborn. Farce for four men and two women. 
Baker. 

Theodore, Jr., by S. Shute. Comedy for seven women and a child. The 
seven women, lively girls, hear that a man is coming to the village. 
The surprise in store for them furnishes the plot of the play. Baker. 

The Third Man, by Benedix. Comedy for one man and three women. 



370 APPENDIX B 

A love knot is untangled in a manner satisfactory to all concerned. 
French. 

A Tune of a Tune, by Totheroh. Irish comedy for two men and two 
women. The story of the effect of a tune. Drama Magazine, 
February, 1920. 

Ten Days Later, by Glick. Comedy for four men and two women. 
Story of what happened after the prodigal son had been home for 
a few days, in the light of modern ideas. Several supernumeraries 
needed. Drama Magazine, February, 1921. 

Where But in America? by Oscar M. Wolf. Satirical comedy for one 
man and two women. The democracy of America, as extending 
down to the servants, is the theme of this little play. It can be 
very cleverly done. (In Mayorga, Rep. One- Act Plays.) Little, 
Brown. 

Why the Chimes Rang, by Elizabeth A. McFadden. Christmas play for 
several characters, varied as may be permitted. Amateurs can 
produce this successfully. Notes on scenery and lighting are given. 
French. 

What Rosie Told the Tailor, by E. J. Broomhall. College farce for seven 
men and three women, although it may be played by all men. 
Baker. 

Why, Jessical by A. R. Knowlton. Comedy for one man and nine 
women. A strenuous cure for "bridge" results in serious compli- 
cations for a while, but the cure is effective. Baker. 

The Zone Police, by R. H. Davis. Play for four men. By a rather grew- 
some practical joke the Major is induced to sign the pledge. French. 

The Teeth of the Gift Horse, by Margaret Cameron. Comedy for two 
men and four women. An undesirable wedding gift, which the 
Butlers have gotten rid of, is the cause of the trouble when the 
donor, an aunt, visits them. French. 

II. One-Act Plays of Somewhat Greater Difficulty 

The Affected Young Ladies, by Moliere. Society Satire for six men and 

three women. French. 
After the Honeymoon, by Gyalui. Hungarian Farce for one man and one 

woman. French. 
America Passes By, by Andrews. Two men and two women. Bren- 

tano, or Baker. 
Asaph, by Bates. Comedy for three men and two women. Drama 

Magazine, March, 1920. 
At the Sign of the Silver Spoon, Comedy for four women. Smart Set. 
Back of the Ballot, by Middleton. Popular farce on Woman Suffrage. 

Four men and one women. French. 
Back of the Yards, by Goodman. Drama of the Packing House district 

of Chicago. Three men and two women. Stage Guild, Chicago. 



APPENDIX B 371 

Beauty and the Jacobin, by Tarkington. Humorous, tense, theme of 

the French Revolution. Harpers. (Also in Cohen, One-Act Plays. 

Harcourt, Brace.) 
Behind a Watteau Picture, by Rogers. Poetical fantasy. Something 

different. Requires a large cast. Baker. 
The Betrayal, by Colum. Irish melodrama of the eighteenth century. 

Three men and one woman. Drama, October, 1920. 
A Bit of Instruction, by Sutherland. Two men. Duffield. &****'" 
Blue Iris, by Seyster. Fantasy for four women. Illinois Magazine, 

University of Illinois, May, 1920. 
The Boatswain's Mate, by Jacobs. Not hard. Three roles. Lacy. 
The Boor, by Tohekov. Russian rural farce for two men and one 

woman. French. 
Boosting Bridget, by Gale. Seven women. French. 
The Brink of Silence, by Galbraith. Drama for four men. Little, Brown. 
The Burglar Who Failed. Three roles. Bedroom scene. Easy. Lane. 
Bushido, by Izumo. Japanese tragedy. Beautiful setting. Large cast. 

Duffield. 
By Ourselves, by Fulda. Comedy for two men and one woman. Prac- 
tically a dialogue. Satire on social life. Poet Lore, Vol. 23. 
The Captain of the Gate, by Dix. Six men. Holt. 
The Carrier Pigeon, by Philpotts. Three roles. All good. Duckworth. 
Carrots, by Renard. Drama, rather hard, for two men and two women, 

or may be played by one man and three women. One of the 

characters is a child. French. 
Cathleen Ni Houlihan, by Yeats. Poetic, rather hard. Macmillan. 
A Chinese Dummy, by Campbell. Six women. Baker. 
Choosing a Career, by de Caillavet. Farce for three men and one 

woman. Translation by Barrett H. Clark. French. 
Chuck, by Mackaye. Rather difficult. Story of a reaction against rigid 

Puritanism. Duffield. 
The Clod, by Beach. (In Washington Square Plays.) Civil War tragedy 

for four men and one woman. Doubleday, Page. 
The Constant Lover, by v Rankin. Comedy for two roles. Lane, t — 
Crispin, His Master's Rival, by Le Sage. Comedy, in 18th century 

costumes. French. 
The Dark of the Dawn, by Dix. Four men. Holt. 
The Dress Rehearsal, for ten women. Macmillan. 
The Dumb Cake, by Morrison and Pryce. Humorous and pathetic. 
The Edge of the Wood, by Roof. Fantasy of the forest. Four men, one 

women, one child, and supers. Drama, February, 1920. 
The Edict, by Kuhn. Modern problem drama for two men and four 

women. Challenge Magazine, May, 1916. 
Embers, by Middleton. Drama for two men and two women. French, 

and Holt. 



372 APPENDIX B 

Fame and the Poet, by Dunsany. Three roles. All good. Clever. 

Atlantic, 1919. 
A Fan and Two Candlesticks, by Macmillan. Two men and one women. 

Stewart & Kidd. 
The Fatal Message, by Bangs. Five men and four women. Harper. 
The Festival of Pomona, by Mackay. Fantasy for one man and two 

women. Holt. 
The Fifth Commandment, by Bierstadt. Serious Drama for three men 

and one woman. Drama, June, 1920. 
The Flower of the Yeddo, by Mapes. For four women. French. 
Fourteen, by Gerstenberg. Comedy for one man and two women. 

(Drama, February, 1920. Swartout.) 
Fritzchen, by Suderman. One of the best tragedies written. Four men 

and two women. Scribner's. 
A Game of Chess, by Goodman. Tense and effective. Two men. Stage 

Guild, Chicago. 1/^ 
A Game of Chess, by Meyers. Three men and three women. Penn. 
The Gaol Gate. Three roles, not too hard. French. 
The Girl in the Coffin, by Dreiser. Love drama. Difficult, but good. 

Lane. . 

The Glittering Gate, by Dunsany. Two men. Kennerly. ^ 
The Glory of the Morning, by Leonard. Romantic Indian drama for 

three men and two women. May be played out of doors. (In 

Wisconsin Plays.) Huebsch. 
The God of the Wood, by Girardeau. Oriental fantasy for eight men and 

two women. One part comedy. Drama, June, 1920. 
The Golden Doom, by Lord Dunsany. For ten men and one woman. 

Swartout. 
The Great Noontide, by Kearney. Satire, not too hard. Four men and 

two women, with supers. Drama, January, 1921. 
The Green Coat, by de Musset and Augier. Three men and one woman. 

French. 
The Groove, by Middleton. Drama of relinquished hopes for two 

women. (In Possession and Other One-Act Plays.) French, and 

Holt. 
Happiness, by Manners. One-Act arrangement of the longer play. 

Two men, and two women. Dodd, Mead. 
The Heart of Pierrot, by Scott. Quaint fantasy for nine children. Drama, 

February, 1921. 
Her First Assignment, by Bridgham. Ten women. Baker. 
The Hour Glass, by Yeats. Four men and two women, with two children. 

Macmillan. 
Hunger, by Pillot. Five men, can be played with six women. Little, 

Brown. 
He, by O'Neill. Stark sea drama. Boni & Liveright. 



APPENDIX B 373 

The Immortal Lure. Four roles. Tragedy of Ancient India. Poetry. 

Doubleday, Page. 
Indian Summer, by Meilhac and Halevy. Two men and two women. 

French. 
In Hospital, by Dickinson. Very difficult, especially one man's part. 

(In Wisconsin Plays.) Three men and two women. Huebsch. 
Katherine Parr, by Baring. Historical farce for one man and one 

woman. Houghton, Mifflin. 
The Law Suit, by Benedix. Translation of the famous comedy; Der Pro- 

zess. Five men. French. 
The Legacy, by Marivaux. High comedy of intrigue, for four men and 

two women. French. 
The Letters, by Nathan. Burlesque. Knopf. 
The Lighting of the Torch, by Buchanan. Story of the Pilgrims. Large 

cast. Drama, June, 1920. 
Lima Beans, by Kreymbourg. Amusing farce for two men and one 

woman. Little, Brown. 
The Land of Heart's Desire, by Yeats. French. 
The Little King, by Bynner. Historical drama for five men and one 

woman. Kennerly. 
The Little Shepherdess, by Rivoire. Pastoral. One man and two 

women. French. 
The Locked Chest, by Masefield, Storycf Iceland. Chance for effective 

setting. Five roles. Tense. Macmillan. 
The Lost Pleiad, by Drasefield. For ten women. Sunwise Turn. 
The Maker of Dreams, by Down. Fantasy for two men and one woman. 

French. (Also in Cohen, One-Act Plays. Harcourt, Brace.) 
The Man of Destiny, by Shaw. Story of Napoleon. Can be set as de- 
sired. Four roles. Brentano. 
Manners and Modes, by Cooke. (In Dramatic Episodes.) Nine women. 

Dramatic Publishing Co. 
The Man Who Married a Dumb Wife, by Anatole France. Farce comedy 

requiring a large cast. Lane. 
Martha's Mourning, by Hoffman. (In Mayorga, Rep. One-Act Plays.) 

Three women. Little, Brown. 
The Medicine Show, by Walker. Comedy for three men. Stewart 

Kidd. 
The Melon Thief, by Obata. Japanese poetic farce for two men. Drama, 

December, 1919. |^» 
Miss Tassey, by Baker. For five women. Baker. 
Nero's Mother. Good situation, effective staging. Lane. 
Nevertheless, by Walker. Comedy for two men and one woman. Stew- 
art & Kidd. 
Night at an Inn, by Lord Dunsany. Tragedy for seven men. Sunwise 

Turn. (Also in Cohen, One-Act Plays. Harcourt, Brace.) 



374 APPENDIX B 

No Smoking. European farce. Drama, 1917. 

Oh! Pampinia, by Rice. Comedy for five men and two women. Prize 

Mask and Bauble play. University of Illinois, 1920. 
On Bail, by Middleton. Drama for two men and one women. French. 
The Outcast, by Strindberg. For two men. French. ^ 
An Outsider. For fourteen women. Baker. 
Over the Hills, by Palmer. Three roles. Smart Set, 1915. 
Pawns, by Wilde. Story of the war. Little, Brown. 
Poor John, by Sierra. Drama for five men and five women. Drama, 

February, 1920. 
The Post Scriptum, by Augier. For one man and two women. French. 
The Phoznix, by Irving. Drama for two men and two women. French. 
Pot o' Broth, by Yeats. Brentano. 
The Quay of Magic Things, by Mosher. For five men and seven women. 

Not easy. Drama, February, 1920. 
The Queen's Enemies. Spectacular Egyptian tragedy. Luce. 
The Queen's Hour, by McCauley. Morality play for ten women. 

Drama, June, 1920.. 
The Rebound, by Picard. Social comedy for five men and two women. 

French. 
The Rider of Dreams, by Torrence. Play for four negro characters, 

and a child. Good. MacMillan. 
Riders to the Sea, by Synge. Difficult tragedy. Luce. (Also in Cohen, 

One-Act Plays. Harcourt, Brace.) 
The Rising of the Moon, by Lady Gregory. (In Seven Short Plays.) For 

four men. French. 
Ryland, by Stevens and Yerdman. Picturesque. (In Mayorga, Rep. 

One-Act Plays.) Little, Brown, and Stage Guild, Chicago. 
Sabotage, by Valcros and d'Estoc. Serious drama for three men and two 

women. French. 
Sam Average, by Mackaye. (In Mayorga, Rep. One-Act Plays.) Three 

men and one woman. Duffield, or Little, Brown. 
The Shadow of the Glen, by Synge. Not too hard. Luce. 
Six Who Pass While the Lentils Boil, by Walker. For seven men and 

three women. Stewart & Kidd, or Little, Brown. 
The Simoon, by Strindberg. A tragedy of the desert. Tent scene, 

rather hard. Scribners. 
The Tabloid, by Eckersley. Serious drama for three men. Smart Set. 
The Teeth of the Gift Horse, by Cameron. Comedy for two men and 

four women. French. 
The Tents of the Arabs, by Lord Dunsany. Five men and one woman. 

Luce. 
Three Pills in a Bottle, by Field. Four men and three women, one boy. 

Brentano. 
The Tinker's Wedding, by Synge. Irish Comedy, not difficult. Luce. 



APPENDIX B 375 

Tradition, by Middleton. Serious drama for one man and two women. 

Not too difficult. French. (Also in volume, Tradition, Holt.) 
Trifles, by Glaspel. Rather stark rural drama. (In Plays.) Three 

men and two women. Washington Square Plays, also Shay. 
The Turtle Dove, by Alison. Chinese fantasy for seven girls. 
The Twelve-Pound Look, by Barrie. One man and two women. (In 

Half -Hours.) Scribners. 
The Unseen Host, by Wilde. For three men. Little, Brown. 
The Very Naked Boy, by Walker. For two men and one woman. (In 

More Portmanteau Plays.) Stewart & Kidd. 
The Wager, by Giagosa. Italian poetic comedy for four men and one 

woman. French. 
Will o' the Wisp, by Holman. For four girls. (In Mayorga, Rep. One- 
Act Plays.) Little, Brown. 
The Workhouse Ward, by Lady Gregory. (In Seven Short Plays.) Two 

men and one woman. Putnams. 

III. Long Plays 

A short list of good plays for an entire evening. To these many 

others may be added from the catalogues of the publishers. Only 

a very brief description is offered. 

The Admirable Crichton, by Barrie. A very famous comedy. French. 

The Adventure of Lady Ursula, Hope. Old English Comedy in four 
acts for twelve men and three women. French. 

Alice-Sit-by-the-Fire, by Barrie. Delightful comedy in three acts for 
three men and six women. French, and Scribners. 

Allison Makes Hay, by Helburn. War comedy in three acts for seven 
men and seven women. Baker. 

Arms and the Man, by Shaw. French. 

Beau Brummel, by Fitch. Comedy for eleven men and seven women. 
Four acts. French. (Also in Cohen, Longer Plays by Modern 
Authors. Har court, Brace.) 

The Big Idea, by Thomas and Hamilton. Unusual comedy in three 
acts for seven men and four women. Two interiors. French. 

Candida, Shaw. Three acts, for four men and two women. Brentano. 

The Climbers, by Fitch. Social satire in four acts for twelve men and 
nine women. French. 

A Country Mouse, by Law. Satire in three acts for six men and four 
women. Good for amateurs. French. 

The Fortune Hunter, by Smith. A very successful comedy on the pro- 
fessional stage. Four acts, eleven men and three women. Three 
interior, one exterior. French. 

Green Stockings, by Mason. One of Margaret Anglin's successes. De- 
lightful comedy in three acts for seven men and five women. French. 



376 APPENDIX B 

The Gypsy Trail, by Housman. Charming romantic comedy of society 

in three acts for five men and four women. American Play Co. 
Her Own Money, by Swan. Comedy drama in three acts for three men 

and four women. French. 
Her Own Way, by Fitch. Social drama in four acts for five men and 

nine women. French. 
The Importance of Being Earnest, by Wilde. Sure-fire comedy if done 

well. Three acts, five men and four women. One exterior, two 

interiors. French. 
In Chancery, by Pinero. Farcical comedy in three acts for seven men 

and six women. Three interiors. French. 
The Liars, by Jones. Comedy of manners. Four acts for ten men and 

six women. Four interiors. French. 
The Little Minister, by Barrie. Well-known drama, in four acts, for 

eleven men and five women. Sanger and Jordan. 
The Man From Home, Tarkington and Wilson. Wholesome American 

drama in four acts, for eleven men and three women. Three in- 
teriors, one exterior. Sanger & Jordan, or Harpers. 
The Marriage of Kitty, by Lennox. Comedy in three acts for four men 

and three women. French. 
Mary Goes First. Satire on manners in three acts and epilogue, for eight 

men and four women. French. 
Milestones, by Arnold and Knobloch. English Drama. Not altogether 

impossible, but rather hard. Same setting, but using different 

furniture to represent periods of one generation apart. Three acts, 

nine men and six women. Doran. 
The Mollusc, by Davies. Good, not too hard, though requires careful 

acting. Three acts, two men and two women. One interior. Baker. 
Mrs. Bumpstead-Leigh, by Smith. Comedy in three acts for six men 

and six women. French. 
The Naked Truth, by Paston and Maxwell. Farce in three acts for 

nine men and six women. One exterior, two interiors. French. 
Peg o' My Heart, by Manners. Famous comedy. Three acts, five 

men and four women. French. 
The Prince Chap, by Peple. Artistic comedy in three acts, for six men 

and six women. French. 
Secret Service, by William Gillette. Military drama in four acts for 

sixteen men and five women. Two interiors. French. 
The Truth, by Fitch. Drama in four acts. Needs very good acting. 

Five men and four women. Two interiors. French. 
The Twig of Thorn, by Warren. Irish fairy play in two acts, for six men 

and seven women. Baker. 
The Tyranny of Tears, by Chambers. Society comedy in four acts, for 

four men and three women. Baker. 
A Woman's Way, by Buchanan. Society drama, comedy, in three acts. 



APPENDIX B 377 

Calls for two sets, can be played in one, by some minor changes. 
Seven men and six women. Doubleday, Page. (Drama League 
Series.) 
Young America, by Ballard. Excellent comedy in three acts. Delight- 
ful humor and warm pathos. Needs a well-trained dog. Fifteen 
men and six women. French. 

IV. Easier Long plays 
Below is a list of longer plays, described in the catalogues of French, 
Baker, Sanger and Jordan, and others, which can be produced by di- 
rectors having less experience than might be required for some of the 
more difficult plays. In many of them the lines and the situations 
carry themselves. At the same time, they will be found to be effective 
in proportion to the work that is put on them. We shall not here at- 
tempt a full description, but suggest that the directors provide them- 
selves with the catalogues and study them over carefully. 

All-of-a-Sudden Peggy, by Denny. Well-known comedy for six men and 

five women. Three acts, two interiors. French. 
An American Citizen, by Ryley. Comedy in four acts for eight men 

and six women. Three interiors and one exterior. French. 
And Billy Disappeared, by Hare. Mystery comedy in three acts for 

five men and six women. One interior throughout. Baker. 
A Bachelor's Romance, by Morton. Comedy in four acts for seven men 

and four women. Three interiors. French. 
Brown of Harvard, by Young. Famous college drama in four acts for 

twenty men and four women. Settings rather difficult. French. 
Brown's in Town, by Swan. Farcical comedy in three acts for five men 

and four women. One exterior, one interior. French. 
Captain Kidd, Jr. Comedy in three acts for seven men and three 

women. Sanger and Jordan. 
The Case of Rebellious Susan, by Jones. Comedy in three acts for ten 

men and four women. French. 
Charley's Aunt, by Thomas. Farcical comedy in three acts, available in 

manuscript only. For six men and four women. Two interiors 

and one exterior. French. 
Caught in the Rain, by Collier. Comedy in three acts for twelve men 

and eleven women. Sanger and Jordan. 
Christopher Junior, by Ryley. Comedy in four acts for eight men and 

four women. Three interiors. A very good play, frequently done 

by amateurs. French. 
Clover Farm, by Patten. Easy farce for eight men and three women. 

Three acts. Baker. 
The College Widow, by George Ade. Comedy for fifteen men and ten 

women. Four acts. The play that made George Ade famous. 

Sanger and Jordan. 



378 APPENDIX B 

The County Chairman, by George Ade. Rural comedy drama in four 

acts for sixteen men and five women. Sanger and Jordan. 
Cupid at Vassar, by Owen Davis. Comedy in four acts for four men 

and nine women. Can be played by all women. Two of the men's 

parts are eccentrics. Two interior, one exterior. French. 
Down East, by Adams. Easy comedy for seven men and three women. 

Three acts. Baker. 
Fanny and the Servant Problem, by Jerome. Comedy in four acts for 

five men and seventeen women. One interior throughout. Good. 

French. 
For One Night Only, by Baker. Easy comedy in four acts for five men 

and four women. Baker. 
Held by the Enemy, by William Gillette. Military Drama in four acts 

for fourteen men and three women. Not easy, but can be done. 

French. 
Her Lord and Master, by Morton. Comedy in three acts for six men 

and five women. French. 
Her Own Money, by Mark Swan. Comedy in four acts for three men 

and four women. Financial transactions between a husband and 

his wife make the theme of this charming play. It requires careful 

work, but it can be done. One interior, one exterior. French. 
Hurry, Hurry, Hurry, by Arnold. Society drama in three acts for five 

men and four women. One interior. Making love and proposing 

by schedule are not the easiest things in the world. French. 
Little Mrs. Cummin, by Pryce. Farce comedy in three acts for four 

men and five women. The theme of the eternal mother-in-law is 

the basis of this little play. One interior. French. 
Mrs. Temple's Telegram, by Wyatt and Morris. Farce comedy in three 

acts for five men and four women. What happens when a man is 

out all night, even if he can't help it? Trying to get out of it by 

lying does not help — it is worse than the truth — as Temple found 

out. One interior. French. 
Mrs. Mainwaring's Management, by Froome. Comedy in two acts for 

three men and four women. One interior. Three engaged couples 

at a week-end house-party are enough to start almost any kind of 

complication. French. 
Nothing but the Truth, by Montgomery. Comedy in three acts. Can a 

man tell the absolute truth for twenty-four hours, even on a wager? 

It is likely to start something — and it did. Two interiors. French. 
Officer 666, by MacHugh. Farce in three acts for seven men and three 

women. A straight American play with plenty of "pep" from 

start to finish. French. 
Our Wives, by Krafft. Comedy in three acts for seven men and four 

women. Sanger and Jordan, or Baker. 



APPENDIX B 379 

A Pair of Sixes, by Peple. Comedy in three acts for eight men and 

four women. Good for amateurs, not at all hard. French. 
Peaceful Valley, by Kidder. Drama in three acts for seven men and 

four women. A great success on the professional stage; can be 

done effectively by amateurs. French. 
The Private Secretary, by Hawtrey. Farcical comedy in three acts for 

nine men and four women. A story of mistaken identity. Two 

interiors. French. 
The Professor's Love Story, by Barrie. Comedy in three acts for seven 

men and five women. Sanger and Jordan. 
The Rivals, by Sheridan. A famous old comedy in five acts for nine 

men and five women. Has been presented countless times with 

success. Baker. 
Robina in Search of a Husband, by Jerome. Farce in four acts for eight 

men and four women. One interior. An interchange of identities 

on the part of a woman and her maid causes no end of trouble for 

the man in the case. French. 
Rose o' Plymouth Town, by Dix and Sutherland. Charming colonial 

drama in three acts for four men and four women. A favorite with 

schools. Dramatic Publishing Co. 
School for Scandal, by Sheridan. Another of Sheridan's famous old 

comedies. Has been played successfully for many years, and will 

long continue to be presented. Five acts, twelve men and four 

women. Baker. 
She Stoops to Conquer, by Goldsmith. No introduction need be given 

to this very famous comedy. Five acts, fifteen men, four women. 

Baker. 
Stop Thief, by Moore. Comedy for eight men and five women. Three 

acts. Very good for amateurs. French. 
Suzette, by Moore. Farce in three acts for five men and four women. 

Baker. 
What Happened to Jones, by Broadhurst. Farce in three acts for seven 

men and six women. A sure-fire hit. There are more complications 

in three acts than one could imagine. One interior. French. 
When a Feller Needs a Friend, by McMullen. Easy comedy for five 

men and five women. Three acts. One interior. Baker. 
Why Smith Left Home, by Broadhurst. Another farce which always 

makes a hit when presented right. Not hard, but must be done 

with plenty of go from the very first curtain to the final drop. 

Two interiors. One a double setting. French. 



APPENDIX C 
DEBATING 

HOW TO CONDUCT SCHOOL DEBATES 

Debating is a special kind of public speaking which needs special 
attention by itself. For high school students, debating has two 
particular uses; first, as a preparation for the combats of life, and 
secondly, as a form of school sport. The suggestions with respect 
to debating given in this appendix will apply to both of these ac- 
tivities, but more particularly to Debating as a school game. 

DEBATING AS MATCHED PLAY 

First of all, the thing to remember about Debating is that it is a 
kind of matched play. Two sides are chosen, and rules are laid 
down to insure that play will be as fair as possible; and then the 
two sides are permitted to come together in a combat of positions, 
ideas, information, and command of language. The fundamental 
problems in Debate are just exactly what they are in any other 
form of speaking, especially speaking in public; for Debating re- 
quires: 

(1) careful thought; keen observation, good memory, the posses- 

sion of opinions, a working imagination, and, in particular, 
skill in reasoning; 

(2) a careful command of language; the ability to frame sen- 

tences with strength and vigor, and the power to use words 
clearly and forcefully: 

(3) a voice that carries the right meaning; with good range of 

pitch, a good change of pace, sufficient strength to fill 
an audience room, and a quality that is pleasing to the 
listeners; 

(4) an alert body that is under control at all times; which helps 

carry the meaning to the eyes of the audience. 
380 



APPENDIX C 381 



CHOOSING DEBATERS 

It is the matched-play phase of debate that needs especial at- 
tention in this appendix. In order to have matched play on good 
terms, it is obvious that there must be participants properly chosen. 
Within the high school this can be from members of a literary 
society, members of a class, or from the whole school. The principal 
consideration in choosing the combatants is to get the sides as 
evenly matched as possible. To make a good debate, there should 
be the same number of contestants on either side. The commonest 
number is three; but two on a side makes a good debate, and a de- 
bate can be carried on very effectively with one on a side. As a mat- 
ter of fact, in great public struggles when open debates are held, the 
commonest form is one man pitted against one » other; as in the 
great Lincoln-Douglas debates, and recently in the debate between 
President Lowell and Senator Lodge on the League of Nations. 

A convenient program for choosing debaters is this: 

(1) Call for candidates. 

(2) Assign to them some general proposition for discussion; as 

"America must take a larger part in world affairs," or 
"The nations should disarm," or better, some current issue 
of the day. 

(3) Instruct them all to appear at a certain time and place, pre- 

pared to give a three- or four-minute speech on either side 
of this proposition. 

(4) Have the first try-out a test of speaking ability solely. 

(5) Judge the contestants strictly on this basis; those who are 

poor speakers should not be carried over, while those who 
can speak well should be continued in the debating squad. 
If you wish to choose one team of three, choose six at the 
speaking trial; if you wish to choose two teams of three 
each, choose twelve. 

(6) Then draw lots determining in what position and on which side 

of the question each shall speak for the final debating try- 
out. For example, drop slips of paper in a hat marked "first 
affirmative," "third negative," "second negative," "third 
affirmative," etc., and have the contestants draw. When 
you have done this, the two teams for the final try-out are 
all made up, as each man is assigned to a definite place. 

(7) In the final try-out, allow each speaker five minutes for 

main speech, and four minutes for rebuttal. The test in 



382 APPENDIX C 

this case should be on the ability to debate; that is to say, on 
the ability to meet the opponent's argument; to build up his 
own case, to overthrow his opponent, and to defend himself. 

One very important point to consider is the ability of the con- 
testant to adapt himself to what has actually been expressed on the 
floor. If in the final try-out the debaters are judged upon their 
ability as debaters, having already passed a test as to their speak- 
ing ability, a fair assurance is given that they can handle them- 
selves on the floor when the time comes for the actual contest. 

Assuming that there are three men on the debating team, the 
arrangement for speaking is fairly well accepted now according to 
the following principles. The first speaker should be one who is 
sure to be easily heard, of pleasant voice, of easy manners and 
actions, and one not at a loss to put his ideas into words. First 
impressions are always important, and the first speech should go 
to a man who makes a good impression before an audience. If he is 
on the affirmative, his speech is ordinarily all committed to memory. 
Therefore his ability as a speaker, more than as a debater, is im- 
portant in placing him first. The second speaker should be one 
who can work his way through a more or less intricate argument. 
Ordinarily the second speech in the debate must carry the burden 
of the arguing. He must present a good deal of material, must 
show its relation one part to another, must point out how his case 
differs from his opponent's case, must fill his speech with facts of 
all kinds. If there is a man who can do this particularly well, he 
should be given this place. The third speaker ordinarily is the 
captain of the team; the one of greatest experience, and the one 
most sure of keeping his head in a tight situation. If, in addition 
to being cool and balanced and skillful, he is a good speaker, so 
much the better. He should be ready at rebuttal, knowing just 
wherein lies the strength of his opponents' statements, and knowing 
what to use to meet them. 

Summarizing this; the first speaker must be acceptable as a 
speaker, the second as an arguer, and the third as one to keep his 
head and meet points as they have been presented. 

THE PROPOSITION FOR THE DEBATE 

Of course it is understood that only a proposition may be debated; 
that is, only a declarative sentence. Two teams cannot successfully 
debate a topic like World's Peace, or A High Tariff. So, obviously 



APPENDIX C 383 

the beginning of a debate is a proposition, which one side upholds 
and which the other side attacks. 

There are definite rules for choosing propositions. They can be 
stated very briefly as follows: 

1. Choose a Proposition so worded as to give two equal sides. 

2. Make it a question of present day interest. 

3. Study the wording of it carefully to see that there are no am- 

biguous terms. 

4. Make it as concise as possible. 

5. Use only such subjects and such propositions as are not yet 

settled, and are not likely to be settled by the time of the 
debate. 

6. Choose such propositions that the affirmative will always be 

in a position of demanding a change or of broaching some- 
thing not already accepted generally. 

STUDYING THE PROPOSITION 
THE BRIEF 

When this proposition has been chosen and accepted for the 
debate, the debater should study it with very great care to see just 
what it means, just what every term in it means, and wherein there 
are points of strength and dangers of pitfalls to his side. 

The best way to find out what there is in the question for your 
side — or, as far as that is concerned, for both sides — is to make that 
type of digest of the case known as a brief. Assume that you 
are on the affirmative side of the question, "The United States 
should take the lead in organizing the nations of the Americas into 
a Pan-American federation for defense and trade." The steps in 
testing the material to find out what it is worth on this question, are: 

1. Definition of terms. Study every phrase and word in the sen- 
tence to know exactly what it means. Be prepared to defend what- 
ever construction you place upon any term in the proposition. Look 
up terms in the dictionary or encyclopedias or any such source if 
necessary. But be sure to know just exactly what you propose to 
say each term means in case you are questioned. 

EXERCISES IN DEFINING TERMS 

A. In the Proposition given in the second paragraph above, select 
the terms that need defining and give a proper definition for each. 



384 APPENDIX C 

B. Hand in definitions of the several terms in the following propositions: 

Example: The United States should cancel the war debts of her allies. 

"The United States" means the government of the United States by- 
act of Congress and the sanction of the President. 

"Should" implies something of a moral obligation, as of the strong to 
the weaker, but more of an obligation based upon economic and 
political advantage. 

"Cancel" means to forgive entirely and at once without making reser- 
vations, such as agreeing to cancel twenty years hence in case 
Europe does thus and so. 

" War debts" means the money loaned by the United States government 
to other nations. 

"Allies" must mean associates, as technically America had no real 
allies in the Great War; she had only associates. It would be well 
here to specify England, France, Italy, Belgium, and Russia: as 
there were over twenty-five "associates." 

(1) Capital punishment I should be abolished fby law/in the United Stales. 

(2) The United States/ should grant/ complete independence/ to The 
Philippines. 

(3) The Interstate Commerce Commission /should be allowed/ to fix/all 
railway rates. 

(4) Cuba /should be annexed /to the United States. (Study the kind of 
"should" involved here.) 

(5) The President of the United States /should be elected /by direct 
popular vote. 

(6) The Democratic Party /is needed/iov our political security. 

(7) Corporation stock/should be taxed/in the same way as /corporation 
dividends. 

(8) Every state /should have /an income tax /in addition to /present federal 
income taxes. 

(9) The veterans of the World War/should unite/in one veteran's As- 
sociation or union. 

(10) The railways/of the country /were better managed / under government 
control /during the war /than by private management/in the post-war period. 

(11) A sales tax/is unfair /to the mass of the people. 

(12) Political parties /should be brought/more under governmental control. 

(13) Labor unions/have become/an industrial necessity. 

(14) The solution ,/of the negro problem /lies in the distribution /of Negroes/ 
throughout the nation. 

(15) National party labels /should not be allowed /in municipal elections. 

2. Concede Common Ground. Concede common ground and 
irrefutable points of the opposition. One of the mistakes commonly 
made by youthful debaters is to go charging head-on against a fact 



APPENDIX C 385 

that is irresistibly against their contention. Some young people are 
so constituted that it hurts them to concede that the other side 
can in any way be in the right; and so they go ramming away 
against a stone wall of fact in an endeavor that serves only to leave 
them crushed and bleeding. The only sensible thing to do is to 
look over your case and your opponent's case and decide just what 
you cannot answer and just what you can meet squarely. Having 
decided what is positively his and not yours, then let him have it 
if it will do him any good. 

Be sure to know just what really is common ground, facts so 
indisputable that both sides will concede that they are true. One 
of the most unfortunate things that can happen in a debate is to 
see a gallant young advocate insisting that black is white or white 
is yellow. It is done altogether too often; for young debaters will 
not always take pains to analyze their proposition and their material 
to find out what facts must be conceded by both sides. 

3. Finding the Issues. A dispute always arises in what is called 
an issue. When you debate, it is not enough j ust to talk about some- 
thing; there are certain things that need to be said much more than 
anything else. These things grow out of the issues. An issue is 
always a question; that is to say, when you are thinking in issues, 
you should always end with a question mark. So, in trying to find 
the issues, find first what are the most sensible questions to ask in 
order to bring out the strong points of your side or of your oppo- 
nent's side. On the proposition stated above, concerning Pan- 
American Federation, one could ask questions like these: 

(a) Why has there never been a league of American nations? 

(b) Would a league of American nations ultimately bring one 

language? 

(c) Would we have to have a common president for such a league? 
But anyone of judgment can see at a glance that these are really 

not the vital questions to be raised when somebody mentions the 
above proposition. Other questions can easily be found which are 
much more to the point: 

(1) Have we enough common ground among American nations 

for a union of any kind? 

(2) Would any good come of such a union? 

(3) Can we expect South American nations to take part on equal 

terms with the United States and Canada? 

(4) Is there anything really beneficial to be gained by such a 

union? 



386 APPENDIX C 

These questions seem to need answering before you can say either 
that we should or should not have such a federation. 

An issue should be a question to which the affirmative can say 
in general, Yes; and the negative can say in general, No. Yet, not 
always is it necessary for the affirmative to give a flat Yes, and the 
negative a flat No; but their attitudes should be practically op- 
posite. When you have found the really important questions, so 
that the affirmative can accept in general and the negative deny in 
general, then you have found the real causes of debate, and have 
made a beginning toward your outline and your speeches. 

The five questions above lead to Contentions in the following 
replies given by each side: 

To Issue 1: 
Affirmative: 

There are political and economic matters in common suffi- 
ciently important to warrant a league. 
Negative: 

The nations of America have never been friendly enough 
to agree on any important matter. 
To Issue 2: 
Affirmative: 

Such a union would promote friendship and mutual under- 
standing. 
Negative: 

The good would be so slight that it would not be worth the 
effort it would require. 
To Issue 3: 
Affirmative: 

South America is showing a more receptive spirit than ever 
before. 
Negative: 
South America has always been suspicious of North America 
and always will be. 
To Issue 4: 
Affirmative: 

Many benefits will come from this League. 
Negative: 

No permanent and valuable benefits can be expected. 



APPENDIX C 387 

EXERCISES 

1. Criticise the following development of Issues and Contentions: 
Do you approve all the steps? Can you improve the selection or wording 
of the Contentions? Are the best Issues selected from the questions 
asked? 

Proposition : At least one year of Latin should be taken by every 
high school pupil. 

Typical questions raised are: Will it help me in after life? Will it help 
me understand English any better? Will I like it? Will it take too 
much time and effort? Can I learn to talk it? Shall I ever read Latin 
extensively? Is it of value to all pupils? 

Which of these are best for finding the Contentions in a debate? 
The following issues seem most valuable: 

1. Will it enable me to understand or use English any better? 

2. Will it help me in after life? 

3. Will it take too much time and effort? 

4. Is it of value to all pupils? 

Contentions 

To Issue 1 : Affirmative: The study of Latin will improve your under- 
standing of grammar and your choice of words. 

Negative: The study of Latin will not improve your English any more 
than an equal amount of time spent on English. 

To Issue 2 : Affirmative: It will enrich your reading in all your after 
life. 

Negative: One year of Latin will be almost entirely forgotten in after 
life. 

To Issue 3: Affirmative: Latin pays for all the effort it gives. 

Negative: Latin study is wasteful in the amount of time needed for any 
worth-while progress. 

To Issue 4: Affirmative: There is some value for all pupils in the 
study of Latin. 

Negative: Some pupils will get nothing from it. 

2. From the following Propositions: (a) Find the three questions 
most valuable for stating Issues and developing Contentions. (b) 
Change these Issues into carefully worded Contentions for both the 
affirmative and negative sides. 

(1) The governor of this state deserves reelection. 

(2) Industrial courts are the solution of the labor problem. 

(3) This school needs a new building devoted to gymnasium 

purposes- 

(4) The "third murderer" was Macbeth himself. 

(5) Charles Lamb is more to be pitied than envied. 



388 APPENDIX C 

(6) The soil in this part of the state needs new farming methods. 

(7) The business men of this county are unprogressive. 

(8) Everybody should study chemistry. 

(9) Our chances for winning the championship are better than 

ever. 
(10) The present (or recent) session of Congress is achieving 
little of value to the country. 
3. State other Propositions, drawn from current political and social 
problems; then find the Issues and state the Contentions most valuable 
for each side. 

DIVIDING THE QUESTION 

As soon as you have found the issues on each side, divide the 
question into parts. In the question of Pan-American federation 
above the affirmative might have sub-propositions something like 
these: 

1. The nations of America have enough in common to make a 

federation for mutual protection desirable. 

2. The new civic consciousness of the age makes certain that a 

federation would work successfully. 

3. The evidence indicates that these nations will grow closer 

together rather than farther apart, and that such a union 
will be beneficial to all concerned. 

" BRIEF PROPER" 

Analyzing the Arguments. Now comes what is known as the 
brief 'proper. This is a more simple matter than is sometimes 
suspected. With your three or four main propositions selected, 
the task is now to find out how jar you can go in arguing that these 
declarations or assertions are justifiable. A Brief offers a method 
for testing the validity of the argument. There are two very simple 
tests; these are given here without any great elaboration, in the 
assumption that if they are followed closely, the debater of ordinary 
intelligence can tell whether or not he is telling the truth. 

Test 1. Give reasons why you think your proposition is true. 
The test of whether these reasons are correct and justifiable is to 
answer the question, How do you know? Thus, if you have said that 
the nations of America need to cooperate more closely, then it is a 
fair question to ask you, How do you know they should? You 
reply by giving reasons, (1) because they were on the same side in 
the Great War, (2) because their trade relations are better than they 



APPENDIX C 389 

used to be, (3) because the South American states now understand 
that the United States is actuated by a spirit of generosity. So the 
first test is to see whether or not you are really answering the 
question, How do you know? 

Test 2. The second test is to ascertain whether the reasons you 
give are connected with the proposition by the conjunction be- 
cause, or since, or for. If you connect a point with the reason that 
defends it in such a way that the use of the conjunction because makes 
sense, then you are reasoning logically, and are bringing forth good 
evidence. 

These tests can be applied backwards, as follows: read upwards 
on your brief and the evidence ought to be connected with the 
main point with a therefore, or hence, or consequently. Also in read- 
ing upward your points should be continually answering the ques- 
tion, What of itf 

These four tests will tell you when you are using argument in a 
proper logical manner. Herein is the main value of the brief; to 
show you, the debater, for your own benefit whether or not you are 
talking sense and speaking the truth. For, once you have made a 
brief in the proper fashion, you can then go ahead boldly knowing 
that you understand just what relation any one fact bears to the 
whole question at issue. The chief value of the brief is not so much 
as an outline, as in giving the debater assurance that he is on the 
track of truth and can stay on that track as long as he follows his 
brief. 

EXERCISES IN BRIEFING 

The following shows how a Contention is developed into Brief form . 
Using the list of Contentions at the close of this section of a Brief, make 
similar developments. 

Contention I. The nations of America have enough in common to 
make a federation for mutual protection desirable; for ("How do you 
know?") 

A. As democracies they seek protection from imperialistic ag- 
gressions; for 

1. They do not wish to be made subject to European or 

Asiatic powers; for 

(a) They have protested against such aggressions in 

the past. 

(b) They .desire their independence to be permanent. 

2. They wish to avoid dominance by any of their own number; 

for 



390 APPENDIX C 

(a) Mexico and Canada do not wish to be dominated 

by the United States. 

(b) The Central American States do not wish to be 

dominated by the United States or Mexico: As 
shown by the action of Nicaragua and Costa 
Rica in recent disputes. 

(c) The states of South America resent any intervention 

from other states : As shown by disputes between 
Chili and Peru, Chili and Bolivia, Columbia 
and Panama, Paraguay and Brazil. 

3. They have all at some time broken away from European 

powers. 

4. Their economic interests are alike: for 

(a) They need each other's products. 

(b) They are near enough to make trade economical. 

(c) They can profit by each other's prosperity; for 

(1) Trade conditions in one country are inevit- 
ably affected by trade conditions in the 
others; for 

(a) One cannot sell if others cannot buy, 

(b) And one cannot buy from those who 

have nothing to sell. 

List of Contentions for Briefing: (See pp. 387-389.) 

1. The study of Latin will improve your understanding of grammar 
and your choice of words. 

2. Some pupils get nothing from the study of Latin. 

3. The study of Latin will enrich one's reading throughout life. 

4. Our governor has served all classes of people adequately. 

5. Labor courts have been a failure in Kansas. 

6. Our gymnasium facilities are now inadequate. 

7. Macbeth had reason to distrust the two murderers he had hired. 

8. Charles Lamb's speech defect made him a pitiable character. 

9. Farmers in this county do not use the proper system of rotation 
of crops. 

10. Our merchants do not treat farmers with enough consideration. 

11. Chemistry teaches facts that are of value to any man. 

12. Our team has the advantage over — — . 

13. The present Congress has wasted time. 

ADVICE FOR THE ACTUAL DEBATE 

1. Organize the Debate Around one Central Point. The whole 
debate will go better if both sides center their arguments and every- 
thing they say into one central "case." This means that a team 



APPENDIX C 391 

should have one main, central, dominating, reason for its side of the 
question. In the matter of a union of American states, the affirma- 
tive could take as its central position, around which its argument 
would rally, "The solution of the world's problems is found in 
the Western Hemisphere." Or the negative could center its case 
around the contention, "American union is a beautiful dream, but 
it will not work." 

Now each of these points is big enough and broad enough to 
occupy the full time of the evening's debate; and if each team can 
center its argument around such a case, it will be easier for the de- 
baters to keep on the track, will be more interesting for the audience, 
and easier for judges — if any are present — to come to an intelligent 
decision. One of the first things that should be done in a debate is to 
decide on what this general stand shall be, and then to state it in a 
proposition or a few propositions that can be called your "case." 
It is at this point that some of the finest strategy of debate takes 
place. The team, with its counsellors, which can do this thing 
best, begins the debate with a great advantage over a team that 
does not do the same thing. There is advantage in spending some 
little time deciding what the central point of your debate will be. 

2. Be Clear at All Times. One of the most important things in 
debating is to make sure that your audience knows just what point 
you think you are talking about. Now in taking up a point, always 
tell your audience that you are taking it up. Then fulfill your 
promise. As you develop your point, be free with expressions which 
show that you know what you are talking about and just what 
point it is you are discussing. When you are through with it, sum 
it up and tell the audience what you think you have accomplished 
by making such a point. As one man has put it, "Tell your audi- 
ence what you are going to do, then tell them you are doing it, and 
after you are through tell them that you have done it." 

If you are debating for a decision, nothing will commend you 
more to the judges than this disclosure that you know what you 
are talking about. Clearness is valuable also in that the judges 
know at all times what they are judging and can evaluate what 
you say, because you have made clear to them what you are trying 
to point out. If you do not do this, the judges will be muddled 
and may easily give a decision that will be wholly out of keeping 
with the tenor and trend of the debate. Probably most of the 
unwise decisions come because the debaters have not been clear in 
all their statements. 



392 APPENDIX C 

3. Attach Your Arguments to What Your Opponents have Ac- 
tually Said. One of the most painful things that can happen in de- 
bate is to have a youthful contender take the floor and accuse the 
other team of saying things that they have never mentioned. 
This happens so many times that a number of good people be- 
come dissatisfied with school debate, always fearing to hear 
this sort of thing. By no means does it have to happen. The 
debater who will stand on the platform and say that the oppo- 
nents have said thus and so when they have said nothing of 
the kind, only makes himself look silly. A debater ought to have 
ears that hear correctly; then if he will only listen to what his 
opponents say and not sit there frightened to death or glorying 
in his own greatness, he can understand the language of his 
opponents, can tell what they have actually said, and then can 
use his intelligence in avoiding this most painful error. 

This method of adaptation goes even farther. If a debater pre- 
ceding you has spoken of a subject on which you expected to 
speak, by all means as you come to that part of your argument 
make allusion to what he has said; show to the audience that you 
know that he mentioned it, and that you are not under the im- 
pression that it is being mentioned for the first time. This is what 
makes a debate really a debate instead of a series of six or four or 
any number of mere committed declamations. There is no debate 
unless there is this adaptation, this interlocking, this clash, grapple, 
and wrestle. 

4. Quote opponents accurately. In stating what your opponent 
has said, by all means quote him fairly. Many youthful debaters 
think that they are gaining a point by trying to pervert the wording 
of an opponent. Nothing could be more destructive of their hopes. 
Auditors and listeners are not so keenly wrought up about the 
question as they are, and still retain their judgments of right 
and wrong. Nothing offends them more, probably, than to hear a 
debater assert that an opponent said thus and so, when what he 
said was quite a different matter. The one way to safeguard your- 
self on this is to take down precisely the wording of what your op- 
ponent said. Have your pencil and blank cards ready, and when 
he starts saying something you know will be important, write it 
down word for word. Many a debate has been lost because the 
judges knew that a debater had not quoted an opponent fairly. 

5. Summaries. It is a great help to the audience to know just 
exactly what stage the debate happens to have reached at any 



APPENDIX C 393 

given moment. So, one of the first things that every debater can 
profitably do is to state how he thinks the two cases stand. He 
should tell what his opponents have done, and then what his col- 
leagues have done to the opponents. If he does this honestly and 
with judgment, he helps his side considerably. He will find it of an 
advantage in doing this to speak in terms of the case of each side. 
He knows what his own general position is, and he should early dis- 
cover the general position of his opponents. In telling the audience, 
then, to what situation the debate has come, he will do well to do so 
in terms of the general contention of each side. This helps clarify the 
audience's mind, and keeps them from being confused. 

REBUTTAL 

The very essence of debate is the ability to answer back an op- 
ponent, fairly and competently. So a few points of advice on re- 
buttal are worth giving. 

1. Answer with your whole case. Whenever you feel occasion to 
reply to an opponent, state his point and state the objection to it; 
but above all things else show how it relates to the whole case. If 
your opponent has brought up evidence in the matter of American 
Federation to show that Mexico is a thorn in the flesh, your answer 
to that will not be worth much unless you show how it bears upon 
the general case of your side; as suggested above, the "case" is, 
"the Federation of American nations is the hope of peace for the 
whole world." Answer by showing the relation of this to his argu- 
ment. 

2. Do not merely peck at the arguments of your opponent. 
Young debaters are likely to make the mistake of just answering a lot 
of minor points, laying down one card after the other, "proving" 
such and such statements of the opponents incorrect. Mere answer- 
ing back is not rebuttal; especially in a debate where you wish your 
team to be judged the better. The most effective way always is to 
answer their case with the points that you have in hand. In so 
far as they make statements to which you do not agree, point out 
the incorrectness of those statements, but always point out at the 
same time the relation of your argument to the whole case. 

3. State clearly what point you are refuting. In refuting a point 
of the opposite side be sure to state that point, not only honestly, 
but clearly. Then state just exactly what your objection to it is, 
and indicate and produce your evidence whereby you base your 
opposition. When you have made clear to the audience why the 



394 APPENDIX C 

opponent's contention is not sound, state what you think you have 
done to his argument by your refutation. For example, if a man has 
brought up a citation of authority that has been quoted incorrectly 
or insufficiently, you might say in a polite way after you have read 
enough of the quotation to show his errors, that you "feel sure that 
the testimony of this authority will not be brought out against 
your side of the case again this evening." Or in case he has men- 
tioned only a few facts about a certain point and you have shown 
more facts and better, you might say, as you are winding up that 
argument, something like this, " Unless the opposition can bring 
forth still further evidence on this point, we feel sure that such 
evidence as has been produced argues for our side of the question." 

6. Facts on cards for rebuttal. The rebuttal is most likely to be a 
genuine adapting to your opponent's argument when you do not 
have it committed to memory and when you bring up only what ap- 
plies to the debate as it has taken place. The best way to make 
sure of this is to have all of your points and arguments on separate 
cards. Then when an opponent has brought up a point, set aside the 
card with which you answer that, and take it on the platform for 
your rebuttal speech. Do not fear that audiences will object to see- 
ing young debaters reading from cards or talking with an occasional 
glance at a card; they rather like it. If they have the assurance that 
a young person is speaking "by the card" — which means that he is 
speaking from known information and not from mere guessing — they 
are assured of his honesty and carefulness. 

It is well to put all quotations on cards; it guarantees you against 
misquoting, and it assures the audience that you are trying to be 
accurate. Of course it is advisable not to let the cards get 
between you and the audience; do not forget that you are talking 
to the audience and not to the cards. There is a way of using a 
sheet of paper or a card or a book so that you can get the informa- 
tion from it and still not seem to address your remarks to the card 
instead of to the audience. 

7. Answer the points on which your opponent has scored. A 
young debater is bound to be faced with the question, Which of all 
the points my opponent raised shall I answer? You cannot possibly 
answer them all, so naturally you face an issue in selection. On 
what basis shall you select? The answer is found in this: Reply 
first of all to those points with which your opponent has obviously 
scored, with which he has very evidently made a hit. If you are 
sure that a certain shot of his has missed the mark and has gone 



APPENDIX C 395 

more or less wide, do not let it worry you. But if you feel that he 
has really said something that has hit the target, that has impressed 
the audience as sound and effective, then by all means select that 
first for a refutation. This is a very simple rule; though not neces- 
sarily easy to follow in the heat and excitement of a debate. You must 
use judgment in deciding when your opponent has hurt you; then 
having determined this, bring the brunt of your rebuttal upon that 
point. If his point is so good that it cannot be answered, you should 
have found a way at the beginning of the debate of conceding that 
point. There are only two things to do in such a case: (1) Concede 
the point and show that despite this there is enough left on your 
side, or (2) meet it head-on and overthrow it. If you will follow 
these rules, you will not indulge in that rather painful process — 
painful to the audience — of merely " pecking at" your opponent 
by a lot of insignificant answers to statements which themselves 
are not important. 

8. Summarizing the debate. The last speaker on each side 
should summarize the debate for his side. This means that he should 
review his own case, evaluate the case of his opponent; then tell what 
each side has done to the case of the other, and give his opinion on 
how the debate stands at his conclusion. This can be done in about 
one minute. Do it clearly, pointedly and honestly. 

DELIVERY IN DEBATE 

1. Speak distinctly. If you have made a good case and have a 
good argument and have put it together well, then speak distinctly 
and let the audience get clearly what you have to say. 

2. Speak with Vigor. In debate a speaker should not mumble 
or seem to be talking to himself or to the front row. Let him speak 
with enough energy and vigor so that the person on the back row 
can see and hear him clearly. Let him "project" his voice out into 
the audience. By the same principle he should of course not shout 
or rasp. Some young speakers get the idea that the way to make 
an argument look good, is to shout it at the top of their voices. 
Hardly; make it clear and distinct and forceful enough to show that 
you are in earnest. Anything more than this is superfluous. 

3. Use your body with freedom. One difficulty with many 
school debates is that the debaters look like so many wooden men. 
They stand there in one place and just spout what they have already 
learned. This is hardly debating; it certainly is not good public 
speaking. Go back to your lessons in how to handle your body, 



396 APPENDIX C 

Chapter III, and remember while debating that one of the most 
convincing things you can do is to look the part of a man trying to 
tell the truth to an intelligent audience. This can hardly be em- 
phasized too much. 

4. Memorizing. The first speaker on the affirmative may mem- 
orize his whole speech. Each of the other speakers will undoubtedly 
find passages that he will wish to memorize. But beware of just 
standing up and declaiming what is stored in memory. This is 
not debate; it lacks the essential element of adaptation and of 
wrestling with your opponent. Yet there is great value in memoriz- 
ing important details which you wish to be sure not to misquote or 
to misstate. 

There is no set rule for this; a wise debater will ultimately find 
the balance between memorization and adaptation, and will spare 
himself the ignominy of either acting like an animated phonograph 
or a careless wrangler, misstating his opponents, misquoting his 
authority, and telling things that are not so. The best debating, 
however, is from a mind well prepared and stocked with facts, 
which get into words by a good choice of language chosen in the 
heat of the moment, and adapted to the situation as it actually is. 
That is, the best debating is that kind of speaking known as the 
Extempore. 

JUDGING DEBATE 

What constitutes a good judge of debate? Chiefly he must know 
what debating is aimed to accomplish. He must know first of all 
that the debaters are not trying to settle the question: they have 
purposely chosen one that has two supposedly even sides : they want 
it to be as good for one team as for the other. Accordingly, the 
judge is asked only to decide which of two teams debates better than 
the other. He is to tell which plays the game of debating in the 
superior fashion. 

The points that reveal this superiority best are: 

1. The ability of the teams to make a "case," a unified, con- 
sistent stand that can be defended from the start to the finish. 

2. A knowledge of accurate and specific facts that support this 
case. 

3. The ability to adapt their case to that of their opponents and 
to adapt to their own case the arguments of the opponents. 

4. The ability to recognize and meet the strong points made 



APPENDIX C 397 

against their case, focussing on the important and ignoring the 
unimportant. 

5. Effectiveness in speaking: distinctness, variety, earnestness, 
pleasantness, and expressiveness of voice and action. 

6. Courtesy and fairness to opponents and audience. 

There is no fixed way of giving to these any relative weights; each 
judge must be allowed to decide for himself which of these he re- 
gards as most significant in the particular debate he is judging. 

A sample ballot could be made from the above statement of six 
points with the following form at the bottom: 

"On the basis of these points I consider that the superior 

debating was done by the team from representing 

the side of the question. 

My reasons for this decision are: 



PROPOSITIONS FOR INTERSCHOOL DEBATES 

The best Propositions in any given year must be got from the 
political, economic, social, and international problems of the day. 
They must be made up from information gleaned in the daily papers 
and the weekly journals. They can be made fresh from the latest 
happenings by following the rules given at the beginning of this 
appendix. 

At the time this Appendix is written the following Propositions 
are timely, interesting, and evenly divided: 

1. The United States should recognize the Soviet Government of 
Russia. 

2. The peace of the Pacific is dependent upon the territorial integ- 
rity of China. 

3. The United States should cancel her war loans to her associates 
in the Great War. 

4. Congress should pass the adjusted compensation act for veterans 
of the World War. 

5. Germany and Russia should be admitted to the councils of the 
nations. 

6. Japanese should be excluded from the United States on the same 
terms as those of the Chinese Exclusion Act. 



398 APPENDIX C 

7. Every state in the union should have an industrial court on the 
pattern of the Kansas Industrial Court. 

8. The closed shop is justifiable. 

9. A sales tax should be levied in the United States. 

10. The Republican Congress of 1921-22 has been more active and 
useful than the Democratic Congress of 1917-18. 

11. The United States should keep out of all alliances with European 
countries. 

12. The United States should join the League of Nations. 

13. Prosperity cannot return to the United States until Europe is 
given financial assistance by American capital. 

14. German reparations levies should be greatly decreased. 

15. The submarine should be abolished from naval warfare. 

16. Organized labor must enter politics to protect itself. 

17. The "agrarian bloc" in Congress is justifiable. 

18. Organized capital is more inimical to society than organized labor. 

19. Federal control of education is dangerous. 

20. Speculation in grain futures should be prohibited by law. 

GENERAL EXERCISES IN DEBATING 

1. Team debating in class. 

a. Select the Propositions to be debated. (See lists on pp. 397 

and 398.) 

b. Assign members of the class to places on the respective sides 

of these propositions, with the understanding that each 
side is to work together as a team. 

c. Have each team make a bibliography of the material on its 

side of the question. 

d. Hold meetings of each team to make out a "case;" that is, a 

condensed statement of its stand, a sentence or two that 
states the strongest and most nearly irrefutable general 
reason for their position. 

e. Require a brief from each team, analyzing the whole body 

of argument. 

f. Divide the "case" into as many parts as there are speakers 

on a side. 

g. Prepare speeches: either by writing out in full or by mastering 

the matter on cards for extempore speaking. 
h. Hold practice sessions for delivering the speeches. 
i. Prepare cards for rebuttal. 
j. Practice speaking from rebuttal cards. 
k. Hold the debate before the class on the appointed day. 

2. Drill in presenting a debate point. 

a. Write on cards the data for supporting your point. 



APPENDIX C 399 

Statement of the point. 

Summary of evidence to support it, including citations to 

authorities. 
What the point proves or establishes. 

b. In delivering the argument, use this sequence: 

State your point. 

Use your evidence, showing how it applies. 
Make clear what you have accomplished. 
As: "I next propose to show that the railways have not tried 

to economize since the war. 

First, 

Second, 

Third, 

Thus we see that a great cause of high railroad rates is a spirit 

of post-war extravagance, making clear our contention 

that it is unfair to charge government ownership with 

failure during the war." 

c. Make lists of contentions on current issues, or on any given 

in this book, and practise delivering them in the above way. 

3. Drill in the method of rebuttal. 

Assume that an opponent has made an argument you wish to re- 
fute . Use the following scheme : 

a. State his argument fairly. 

b. Show, by reference to your own case, wherein he has over- 

looked something important, ignored something, mis- 
stated a quotation or an opponent, contradicted him- 
self, or failed to understand the significance of what he 
or you have said. 

c. Then show how your refutation has affected both your own 

case and his. 

4. Drill in conceding matter to an opponent. 

a. Select a Contention of any kind. 

b. Study it to see how much of it belongs fairly to an opponent. 

c. State your contention as to your opponent's argument. As 

(briefly) : " In arguing for a state constabulary we recognize 
that we encounter the unyielding opposition of organized 
labor. We are fully aware that labor has consistently 
opposed state police, that they call them 'Cossacks/ and 
also cite instances in certain states where the constabulary 
have interfered with the right of free speech and have in- 
vaded private property and private rights, etc., etc. 
But we propose to show that the particu- 
lar measure we are advocating is safeguarded against any 
such unwarranted usurpation. 

Our type of state police will " 



400 APPENDIX C 

5 Drill in stating common ground. 

a. State your position, or argument. 

b. Show what facts are common ground. 

c. Show what is left for your side. 

As: "In arguing that the United States should cancel the 
debts of her allies in the late war, we must recognize first 
of all that certain obvious acts are not under dispute in 
this debate. We know that after a great war there is in- 
evitably a great amount of unrest, turmoil, and sudden 
change of feeling. We know also that the feelings of 
brotherhood and mutual helpfulness of war days have 
given place to a measure of suspicion and jealousy. We 
recognize that the forgiving of debts in such a case as 
this is much more than a matter of generous sentiment, 
that it is a matter of finance, business, international pol- 
itics, and of strategy. Knowing these facts we still con- 
tend that " 

BOOKS ON DEBATING 

A Manual of Debate and Oral Discussion, by J. M. O'Neill. Century. 
The Fundamentals of Argumentation and Debate, by J. Walter Reeves. 

Heath. 
The Elements of Debating, L. S. Lyon. University of Chicago Press. 



INDEX OF TOPICS 



Abdomen, control of, 72-74 
Acting and directing, books on, 

366 
Acting, rules for, 343 
Action and voice, variety of, 19-20 
Activity of speech, 6, 47; exercises 

in, 48 
Advice for the actual debate, 390 
Analogy, 211 

Analysis of sentence meaning, 108 
Analyzing speech, 26 
Arms, movement of, 58 
Articulation, 33, 96, 102-104 
Articulation exercises, 103-104 
Aspects of bodily control, 37 
Aspirate tone, 79 
Association of ideas, 182 
Attention, getting and holding, 

13-14 
Attention values in spoken lan- 
guage, 158 
Attitude of the speaker, 110-119 
Audibility and visibility, 12-13 
Audiences, tastes of, 16, 231 
Bearing and posture, 49 
Belief as an element of thought, 

28-29 
"Be Natural," 49 
Bodily control, aspects of, 37, 67 
Body, mastery of the whole, 38, 42- 

44 
Books of one-act plays, list of, 363 
Books on directing and acting, 

list of, 366 
Breathing, abdominal, 71, 73 
Brief, the, 383; exercises in make 

ing the, 389-390 
Carrying of thought in speech, 

26-27 



Cast, choosing a, 356 
Causes, explaining, 212 
Choosing debaters, 381 
Choosing the play, 355 
Clapp, J. M., quoted, 50, 54, 57 
Coherence, providing, 247; exer- 
cises in, 249 
Communication, forms of, 4 
Conciliation, the method of, 279 
Considerations in the use of voice, 

70 
Consonant sounds, 33, 70-71, 87 
Content, logical and emotional, 

298 
Continuity in bodily activity, 47 
Continuity in speech, 139 
Control, conscious, 61-62 
Control of touch, 82 
Conversation, 219 
Conversation, improvement of, 

221; exercises in, 225-227 
Conviction, how to establish a, 

189-198; exercises in, 198-199 
Corson, Hiram, quoted, 66 
Costumers, list of, 366 
Criticism of self, 62 
Culture and tastes, 16 
Curry, S. S., quoted, 43 
Debaters, choosing, 381 
Debating, 380; exercises in 398-400 
Definition as an aid in thinking, 

209 
Delivery in debate, 395 
Descriptive gestures, 60-61 
Diaphragm, use of, 71-72 
Directing and Acting, books on, 

366 
Directing a play for school or 

class, 355 



401 



402 



INDEX OF TOPICS 



Directory of plays and stage acces- 
sories, 361 

Dramatic presentation, exercises 
in, 351-354 

Economy as a means of securing 
attention, 160-163 

Effectiveness and ineffectiveness, 
20, 49 

Elements in spoken language, 145 

Emerson, quoted, 190, 193 

Emotional content, 299 

Emphasis, how to secure, 123; 
exercises in securing, 125, 266- 
267 

Emphasis by rate, 114 

Emphatic gestures, 60 

Expression, oral, 67 

Expressiveness, 110 

Facts, selecting, 269 

Fidgeting, 54 

Four phases of speech, the, 22 

Frobisher, quoted, 8 

Fundamental nature of speech, the, 
3 

Generalization, 210 

General purposes in outlining, 251 

Gestures, 37-38, 55-58, 60-61; 
exercises in, 63-66 

Getting the perspective, 308 

Good speech, 1 

Grammar, exercises in, 149-150 

Guttural tone, 79 

Habit of bodily control, 61 

Habits and their relation to tastes, 
16 

Hands, positions of, 58-59 

Head and face as instruments of 
gesture, 59 

Ideas that need emphasis, 137 

Imagination, 30-31; improve- 
ment of, 204; exercises in, 207- 
208 

Imitation in speaking, 6 

Impersonation, exercises in, 342 

Impressiveness, the method, 275 



Improvement of powers of ob- 
servation, 175 

Improving thinking for speech, 171 

Instruction, the method of, 277 

Interest and speech, 15, 24 

Issues, finding the, 385; exercises 
in, 387 

Jaw, necessity of loose, 77; exer- 
cises in securing, 77 

Judging debate, 396 

Kerfoot, quoted, 294, 325 

Kinds of meaning in reading, 298 

Kinds of reading, 291 

Kinesiology, 37 

Language informal public speeches, 
157 

Language, problems and exercises 
in use of, 23, 31-32, 164-169 

Learning to speak, 6 

Levels of meaning, 300 

Lip consonants, formation of, 88 

Logical content, 298 

Lungs, 71 

Mastering the whole body for 
speech, 40 

Meaning, exercises in getting, 302 

Meaning in reading, kinds of, 298 

Memory, 28, 181 

Movement, 51-53; exercises in, 55 

Muscles of the abdomen, 72-73 

Names, drill in pronunciation of 
proper, 99-102 

Nasal tone, 79-80 

Naturalness, 49-50 

Nature of acting, 338 

Nature of conversation, 219 

Nature of voice, 70 

Observation, 27-28, 172, 173 

One-act plays, 354, 367-375 

Oral English, 142 

Oral reading, 295 

Oral tone, 78; exercises in, 79 

Organization of play personnel, 
360 

Orotund tone, 78-79 



INDEX OF TOPICS 



403 



Outline topics, developing, 273, 
283; exercises in, 284-287 

Outlines, types of, 250 

Outlining the speech, 243; exer- 
cises in, 246-247 

Palate consonants, formation of, 
95-96 

Pantomime copying, 324; exercises 
in, 326 

Paraphrasing, 315; exercises in, 
316 

Parts of thinking process, 172 

Pauses, use of, 134-135 

Pectoral tone, 79 

Personnel of the play, the, 360 

Perspective, exercises in develop- 
ing, 311 

Phrasing, 135 

Pitch, attitude shown by level of, 
118; exercises in, 119-123 

Pitch in emphasis, 126 

Play, choosing the, 355 

Plays, books of one-act, 363-365 

Plays, long, 375-379 

Plays, list of one-act, 367-375 

Position in space, association by, 
184 

Position in time, association by, 
183 

Posture, 37-38, 49-51; exercises 
in, 51 

Processes of speech, 23 

Pronunciation, 33; exercises in, 
97-104 

Propositions, exercises in, 242- 
243 

Propositions for the debate, 382, 
397-398; exercises in develop- 
ing, 383 

Public speaking, 228 

Public speaking, steps in prepara- 
tion for, 229 

Public speeches, language in for- 
mal, 157-158 

Publishers of plays, 362 



Purpose in speaking, 10, 29-30, 

199, 251 
Rate as emphasis, 114 
Rate, exercises in, 115-118 
Reading, 290 
Reading to others, 301 
Reasoning, 31, 209; exercises in, 

214-218 
Rebuttal, 393 
Rehearsals, 358 

Relationship, association by, 185 
Resonance, 78 
Rules for acting, 343, 349 
Scenery and settings, 366 
Selecting speech material, 268 
Self-criticism, value of, 62-63 
Sentence meaning, 35, 58, 104, 

108; exercises in, 104-106 
Shakespeare, quoted, 17 
Shurter, quoted, 158 
Signals, importance of visible, 46 
Silent reading, 291 
Slides, downward and upward, 

126-128 
Slouchiness, 50 
"Socialized" assignments, 287- 

289 
Sounds, consonant, 70-71, 87 
Sounds of American speech, the, 

83 
Sources of common ground, 279 
Sources of interestingness, 15 
Speaker and spoken to, 6 
Speaking, tests of good, 9-10 
Speaking with the whole body, 42 
Speech analyzed, 26 
Speech, the four phases of, 23-24 
Speech, the importance of good, 3, 

8,25 
"Speech is carrying thought," 26- 

27 
Spoken and written language, 152- 

157 
Stage speech, 339; exercises in, 

351-354 



404 



INDEX OF TOPICS 



Stage technique, rules for, 349 
Step, as emphasis, the, 129-132 
Steps in preparing for public 

speaking, 229 
Strength in speaking, 47 
Studying the proposition, 383 
Subject, choosing the, 229 
Sympathy and tact in speaking, 18 
Tastes, determining of, 16-17 
Tendencies, human, 232; exer- 
cises in studying, 238-239 
Tennyson, quoted, 46 
Tests of good speaking, the, 9 
Thinking and the body, 44 
Thinking for speech, 170 
Thought, process of, 23, 26-27, 172 
Throat, how to get an open, 75-77 
Time, attitude shown by, 115, 133 
Tone-copying, 323; exercises in, 

326 
Tone-making, 70-75 
Tone quality, use of, 77-78, 80-81, 

111 
Tongue consonants, formation of, 
90-95 



Touch in speaking, 81-82 

Unity, securing, 239 

Using language in speech, 142 

Value of preparation, 228 

Variety as a means of securing at- 
tention, 19-20, 163-164 

Variety in emphasis, 126 

Visible action, 23, 36-37 

Vividness as a means of securing 
attention, 159-160 

Vizetelly, quoted, 146 

Vocabulary building, 145-146; 
exercises in, 147-148 

Vocal strength, exercises in secur- 
ing, 81-82, 114, 136 

Voice, 67 

Voice and sentence meaning, 104 

Voice, the nature of, 32, 43, 68, 70- 
71, 112-113 

Vowel sounds, 32-33, 70; exercises 
in, 83-87 

What good speech involves, 23 

Wordsworth, quoted, 190 

Writing and talking contrasted, 150 



INDEX OF SELECTIONS 



"A hurry of hoofs in a village 

street," 117 
"And there was mounting in hot 

haste," 117 
Armistice Day, 307 
At His Brother's Grave, 311 
"A voice by the cedar-tree," 

116 
Character of Charles the First, 

The, 333 
"Courage, brother, do not stum- 
ble," 323 
Crossing the Bar, 310 
Epilogue to Asolando, 310 
Farewell to Springfield, 314 
"Gone to be married," 120 
Hamlet's Advice to the Players, 

302 
"He knew to bide his time," 116 
"He passes the fountain, the 

blasted pine tree," 117 
"He was in logic a great critic," 

305 
"How ill this taper burns!" 133 
"I heard the trailing garments of 

the night," 120 
"It is a beauteous evening," 120 
Knapp-White Murder Case, The, 

316 
Lord Chatham's Eloquence, 304 
Marcellus to Bernado, 121 
Marmion, 332 
"Meanwhile that devil-may-care, 

the bobolink," 122 
Men are Four, 318 
Mercy, 315 

Message to Garcia, A, 334 
National Flag, The, 303 
New South, The, 312 



"Oh young Lochinvar is come out 

of the West," 120 
"O the South Wind and the Sun," 

112 
Present Crisis, The, 304 
Protest against Sentence as a 

Traitor, 330 
Raven, The, 121 
Reply to Corry, 328 
Reply to Hayne, 326 
Roosevelt, 306 
"Sail forth into the sea, O ship!" 

119 
Selection from Democratic Key- 
note Speech in 1920, 320 
Selection from Republican Cam- 
paign Speech in 1916, 319 
Song of the Brook, The, 303 
"Stand, the ground's your own, 

my braves!" 113 
"Tell you what I like the best," 

122 
"The day is cold and dark and 

dreary," 111 
"The night hath a thousand eyes," 

116 
"They never fail who die in a 

great cause," 305 
"Under the greenwood tree," 122 
"Under the wide and starry sky," 

109 
"We look before and after," 121 
"We watched her breathing 

through the night," 112 
"What should I say to you?" 109 
"What's that so black agin the 

sun?" 117 
"Ye crags and peaks," 110, 113 
Young Lawyer, The, 304 



405 



INDEX OF AUTHORS 



Ade, 167 
Beecher, 304 
Beveridge, 320 
Blackburn, 307 
Browning, 310 
Burroughs, 164 
Butler, 305 
Byron, 117, 305 
Chesterfield, 166 
Choate, 167 
Cummings, 322 
Curtis, 118, 134 
Emerson, 305 
Emmet, 331 
Finley, 167 
Grady, 314 
Grattan, 330 
Hubbard, 335 
Hume, 304 
Huxley, 164 
Ingersoll, 166, 312 
Kellog, 117 



Kipling, 117 

Lincoln, 315 

Longfellow, 117, 119, 121 

Lowell, 122, 305 

Macaulay, 304, 333 

Pater, 166 

Perry, 167 

Poe, 121 

Richardson, 164 

Riley, 123 

Scott, 120, 333 

Shakespeare, 120, 121, 122, 133, 

302-303, 315 
Shelley, 121 
Talmadge, 323 
Tennyson, 116, 303 
Twain (Clemens), 151-152 
Verhaeren, 122 
Washington, 138, 168 
Webster, 318, 328 
Whittier, 120 
Wordsworth, 120, 166 



406 



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